Red Mountain is the oldest fire detection site in California.

In 1876 the Central Pacific Railroad established a Fire Lookout Station just below Signal Peak, 7,680' up on Red Mountain in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Cisco Grove, CA. The Southern Pacific replaced the original wooden structure with this stone cabin in 1909. It remained in continuous service until 1934 to protect against fires in the many miles of original showsheds along the grade over the Sierra Nevada Mountains between Blue Canon and Donner Summit. - The GreatRails North American Railroad Photo Archive

Red Mountain, also known as Signal Peak, has a view of most of the snow sheds so the railroad built a stone building at the top staffed 24 hours a day by two fire watchers. Only a year after the telephone was invented, one was installed on Signal Peak. Seeing a fire, fire watchers would telephone Cisco down the road. An operator there would telegraph the fire’s location and the special fire trains would head out. - Donner Summit Historical Society