August 26, 2023 10:00 a.m.

Crews worked diligently through the night and continued to prioritize focus on fire activity near the southeast ridge, which is the area threatening nearby homes and structures on the Cougar Creek/Rattlesnake Ridge fires, according to Rachel Pope, public information officer for the Douglas Forest Protective Association.

Pope said the fire is in steep terrain with snags and abundant heavy dead and downed fuels. Fire behavior through the night was active, despite higher relative humidity and cooler temperatures. The fire is estimated at 1,000 acres.

Additional resources arrived Saturday morning, including multiple incident commanders, task force leaders, heavy equipment operators, ground crews, and tenders along with landowner resources. Pope said aerial resources are in the district as well, with more on order. The use of aerial resources may continue to be restricted due to limited visibility from smoke.

The Oregon Department of Forestry Incident Management Team will be briefed at 10:00 a.m. Saturday. Transfer of command is scheduled to take place at 6:00 p.m. Saturday.

Pope said evacuations remain in place for the Cougar Creek/Rattlesnake Ridge fires. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office evacuation map is linked at: https://www.dcso.com/evacuations

For the High Power/Chilcoot fires in the Steamboat and Canton Creek area:

Additional resources were assigned to the fire Saturday morning. Incident Management Team CA12 will be briefed in at 12:00 p.m. Saturday. The fire started on Umpqua National Forest ground and spread to adjacent private ground. DFPA is actively engaged on the fire in cooperation with the UNF and private industrial landowners.

South County Update:

There was a total of five confirmed lightning-started fires in DFPA’s South Unit protection area. Those fires are all trailed and in various stages of mop-up with several in patrol status.

Fire season information is available at: www.dfpa.net