Historic fire lookout structure on Brian Head Peak rebuilt years after wind damage

CEDAR CITY — A historic building on top of Brian Head Peak in Iron County, used as a fire lookout, suffered severe wind damage four years ago. The community celebrated the completion of a new structure on Wednesday.

The Civilian Conservation Corps Camp F-16 stationed at Duck Creek built the original building in the early 1930s. It stood for nearly 90 years. The building, often referred to as the "Peak House" or "Brian Head Overlook," served as a fire lookout that helped protect the entire region of southern Utah.

The peak sits 11,312 feet above sea level, with nearly 1,700 feet of elevation gain from its base. Although it underwent renovations over the years, including one in the 1990s by Sierra Club volunteers, the structure withstood the area's high wind gusts, as Brian Head town manager Bret Howser attested.

"It stood up there for a while, and it was part of an iconic part of the landscape here, and we got some gnarly winds up there," Howser said. "It's at the head of the Markagunt Plateau, and the wind sometimes comes off there really hard, and it finally got ahold of that roof and just ripped it off."

That happened in mid-November 2022, and locals spotted the rubble and alerted U.S. Forest Service officials, who then reached out for help rebuilding it. One of the organizations that answered the call was the Zion Forever Project, which has been assisting in conservation efforts in the greater Zion area since the 1920s.

Tiffany Stouffer, director of development at the Zion Forever Project, said when they got the call to help, they thought it sounded like a "great project."

"We had just started a partnership with the Dixie National Forest in 2024 and we primarily support the Pine Valley District, but this project lays in the Cedar District," Stouffer said. "The Forest Service reached out and said that they would love some support on getting funding together to replace this roof and have it restored to meet the historical aspect, but also reinforced with stronger materials to hopefully prevent future wind damage. We said, 'You know what? That sounds like a great project.'"

So, over the next two years, a team that included the Forest Service, HistoriCorps, Zion Forever Project, Visit Cedar City, Brian Head, Brian Head Town and other private donors, the project began to take shape. And "the shape" that the structure needed to resemble was the original CCC building. Howser said restoring the building to its original frame was of utmost importance.

"The Forest Service and Zion Forever worked together to accumulate the funding in a particular project plan to restore it, which is not a simple task, because you want to restore it using particular methods that are consistent with the historical value of it," he said. "They used all the same building techniques that they would have used originally, which adds a lot to the authenticity of it."

With the structure now open to the public, both Stouffer and Howser said that it is just the beginning of an ongoing project.

"We will be doing some more historical signage up there, for visitors to know the history of the area," Howser said. "There also used to be (spotting scopes), and things to look out over the valley that were previously vandalized, so we're looking to have those restored."

Stouffer said the Zion Forever Project is still looking for volunteers and other donors willing to help complete the project over time.

"We are really grateful to all who were involved in this project, and there are plenty of other opportunities to help," she said.

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