History: 1930 through 1939

Acquisition of Fire Equipment

In January, 1935 the first District fire truck was purchased. This was a one and one half ton International truck chassis. T.F.F.D. personnel constructed a fire fighting body at the Woodacre shops for their new vehicle. It carried equipment sufficient to supply 100 men with fire fighting tools, in addition to the pump, hose, and two hundred gallon water tank.

Fire Lookouts

In 1931, electricity was brought to the Tavern below, and extended to the Lookout.

In August 1935, through the cooperation of the Marin Municipal Water District, the Civilian Conservation Corps undertook the construction of a new fire lookout in place of the former Examiner structure which had fallen on hard times. The elevation of the floor of the lookout is 2,586 feet above sea level. This was one of many projects under way on Mt. Tam for several agencies. The new building was completed and placed in operation in July 1936. Later that year, a pump house of similar architecture was constructed to supply water pressure to the lookout building. Equipped with electricity, hot and cold running water, and telephone, this lookout was acclaimed "The Deluxe Lookout Station of California".

On April 11, 1938 a site for a second fire lookout station to augment the Mount Tam Lookout was chosen. The site was located on Mount Barnabe. Construction of a second lookout tower would allow the use of "triangulation" to determine the exact location of the "smoke" and allow observation of lands to the North that were not visible from the Mount Tam Lookout. The lookout tower was completed and placed in operation on June 6, 1939. In 1982 the original structure was torn down and replaced with a modern state of the art Lookout Tower.