LAKE COUNTY, Ore. – Oregon State firefighting task forces are heading home after fighting a wildfire in Lake County.
The Forest Service said the Cougar Peak Fire was found at about 1:45 p.m. on September 7 approximately 15 miles northwest of Lakeview and about 1.5 miles east of Cottonwood Campground. By noon Wednesday, the fire was an estimated 3,200 acres in size. However, wind and low humidity during the day and evening caused the Cougar Peak Fire to grow by over 17,000 acres in just a few hours.
Thursday night, the fire was estimated to be 37,000 acres in size with 0% containment. By Friday morning, that number skyrocketed to 83,339 acres.
Over the weekend, growth of the wildfire slowed due to significant rainfall. By Monday morning, the Cougar Peak Fire was estimated to be 86,170 acres. Over the next 24 hours, it grew by only 242 acres. By Wednesday morning, the fire was estimated to be about 87,019 acres.
Recent weather conditions allowed for many successful operations including burnouts, construction of contingency lines, and mop-up activities.
The progress made fighting the fire allowed the Office of the Oregon State Fire Marshal Incident Management Team to travel back to their home agencies Wednesday.
Fire managers said, “OSFM would like to thank all of the local agencies and firefighters for the hard work during the initial attack and the ongoing support during the incident. Undoubtedly, the quick and heroic actions of firefighters and local law enforcement saved many lives and protected many homes in the path of the Cougar Peak Fire. During the three deployments that brought OSFM to Lake County this year, the community has been welcoming and the Teams thank them for their hospitality. OSFM is grateful to Northwest Incident Management Team 8 for the partnership and ongoing efforts to continue to manage the fire.”
Moving forward, crews will work hard to get ahead of the eastern side of the fire, which is the most active area. Mop-up and patrol will be the mission for crews along the south, southwest, and northern edges of the fire.
Four structures and six outbuildings were burned.
The Cougar Peak Fire is 6% contained.
Visit https://www.lakecountyor.org/ for the latest evacuation map.
For more details, visit https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7835/
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