Flat Fire morning update for August 24, 2025

Firefighters continue aggressive direct attack, establish initial firebreaks around key, community areas. Community meeting scheduled for Monday

SISTERS, Ore. (August 24, 2025) — Overnight, firefighters continued to aggressively fight the 21,971-acre Flat Fire two miles northeast of Sisters, Oregon. Firefighters have been fighting the fire around the clock since Thursday afternoon.

Night shift crews were able to establish initial dozer and hand lines around portions of the fire. Notably, crews established initial lines along the southern head of the fire and made additional progress along portions of the north and west perimeter of the fire. Crews were also able to burnout unburnt vegetation in the Carcass Creek area to slow the fire’s spread.

Oregon State Fire Marshal (OSFM) firefighters remained engaged in residential areas throughout the south and southwestern portions of the fire, as well as Crooked River Ranch, suppressing fires around structures, extinguishing hot spots around homes and monitoring for embers.

“We were able to cut in some rough breaks around the fire to stop the spread around key areas and homes,” said Eric Perkins, Oregon Department of Forestry Complex Incident Management Team 3 Operations Section Chief. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us to improve lines and tie them together. We’re fighting this fire aggressively and safely, in cooperation with a lot of partners to saves homes in these communities.”

Today, firefighters will continue to face difficult terrain along with a red-flag warning today for hot conditions, combined with low relative humidities and an unstable air mass, with temperatures expected to reach triple digits. Ground crews will continue to work closely with air resources in an attempt to slow the fire’s forward progress, with a focus on protecting threatened structures.

OSFM structural task forces continue to focus efforts on homes in areas where the fire is most active. Type I strike teams have arrived and are dedicated to residential areas, reinforcing protection around homes and critical infrastructure. Where the fire front has passed, firefighters will be mopping up, extinguishing hot spots, and patrolling. “With the challenging weather conditions and changing winds, firefighter coordinated extremely well with all resources in the air and on the ground, defending homes and properties. The teamwork that is going on here is very streamlined.” Said Damon Schulze, Field Operations Chief for the Red Team.

Additional personnel and resources continue to arrive to increase capacity. All agencies continue to work closely with partner agencies to protect lives, property, and communities.

Community Meeting: Incident officials will host a community meeting at the Sisters High School, 1700 W McKinney Butte Rd., tomorrow, Monday, August 25, from 6:00–7:00 pm. Local and incident officials will provide a fire update and answer questions from the community.

To help fire operations and firefighter safety, the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service ask that people stay out of the fire area. The BLM has implemented closures, which can be found under the Prineville tab on the following page: https://www.blm.gov/.../oregon-washington/fire-restrictions

As a reminder, drone use near fires is both illegal and extremely dangerous to pilots working on incidents. If you fly, we can’t. FAA Temporary Flight Restrictions are in place for the fire area. All illegal drone use will be reported to law enforcement.

Level 1, 2 and 3 evacuations remain in effect under the direction of the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Follow their Facebook pages for the latest information and updates.

A 24-hour evacuation point has been setup at Highland Baptist Church located at: 3100 SW Highland Ave, Redmond, OR. Jefferson County Fairgrounds is available for large animals.

The Flat Fire started the afternoon of Thursday, August 21. A conflagration was declared on August 22, 2025.

Despite hot, dry and gusty conditions, fire crews continue to battle the 18,000-acre Flat Fire. Firefighters continue to face critical weather, steep terrain and shifting conditions. Ground crews continue to work closely with air resources in an attempt to slow the fire’s forward progress, with a focus on protecting threatened structures.

“Our firefighters are working under critical weather conditions and some very challenging terrain. We’re going to continue the aggressive firefighting that local resources and partners started,” said Aaron Whiteley Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) Complex Incident Management Team (CIMT) 3 Incident Commander.

Oregon State Fire Marshal (OSFM) structural task forces continued providing point protection to properties and critical infrastructure threatened by the fire. Due to increased fire activity, OSFM crews focused efforts on structures impacted by the threat of the fire. This work includes active suppressing of fire around homes, creating a perimeter around homes, extinguishing hot spots around structures, controlling hot spots, and monitoring for embers.

“Public and firefighter safety are our primary concern,” said, Ian Yocum, Department of State Fire Marshal Red Team Incident Commander. “We’ll be in this firefight until structures are no longer in harm’s way.”

Additional personnel and resources continue to arrive and join day and night operational shifts and increase capacity. All agencies continue to work closely with partner agencies to protect lives, property, and communities.

These resources included two strike teams comprised of Type I engines. These large engines help bolster structural protection and allow more mobile resources to expand their efforts. Eight OSFM task forces will work tonight, ensuring protection remains in place around the clock.

ODF CIMT 3 assumed command of the Flat Fire from Central Oregon IMT 3 and unified with OSFM Incident Management Red Team at 6:00 p.m. this evening.

To help fire operations and firefighter safety, The Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service ask that people stay out of the fire area.

As a reminder, drone use near fires is both illegal and extremely dangerous to pilots working on incidents. If you fly, we can’t. FAA Temporary Flight Restrictions are in place for the fire area. All illegal drone use will be reported to law enforcement.

Level 1, 2 and 3 evacuations remain in effect under the direction of the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Follow their Facebook pages for the latest information and updates.

A Temporary Evacuation Point has been setup at Highland Baptist Church located at: 3100 SW Highland Ave, Redmond, OR. Jefferson County Fairgrounds is available for large animals.

The Flat Fire started the afternoon of Thursday, August 21. A conflagration was declared on August 22, 2025. The Flat Fire includes public and private lands of the Oregon Department of Forestry, Bureau of Land Management, Ochoco National Forest, and Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

Flat Fire Morning Update 8/23:

Over the last couple of days due to current weather conditions and difficult terrain the fire has grown to an estimated 18,000 acres. We are anticipating getting an Infrared flight to get a more accurate number of acres, later today. On August 22, 2025 a conflagration was declared and unified command was established with the Oregon State Fire Marshal Red Team and Central Oregon Interagency Management Type 3 Team (COIMT3). Today, Oregon Department of Forestry Team 3 will be taking over from the COIMT3. As conditions evolve, all agencies are dedicated to working closely with partner agencies to protect lives, property, and communities as the conditions evolve.

Initial attack involved federal, state, and local fire and emergency management agencies. As we continued with operations yesterday there was heavy air support for the ground resources. There were 2 VLATs, 8 Seats, and 5 Type 1 Helicopters, supporting 10 crews, 13 Engines, 7 Water Tenders, 12 Heavy Equipment, 9 Structural Task Forces and various OH. Additional resources, including an additional 6 Structural Task Forces are arriving today, where they will be briefed and assigned directly to operations.

OSFM resources were actively engaged in point protection on homes and critical infrastructure throughout the day yesterday and continued through the night. All crews and resources worked directly on the fire to protect communities and reduce threats to homes and infrastructure. Initially, when the fire started, the local fire agencies from Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District, Cloverdale RFPD, Lake Chinook F&R, Crooked River Ranch and many other local fire agencies did a tremendous job protecting the communities. Nine structural task forces arrived yesterday and were immediately deployed to the fire line. OSFM Incident Commander Yocum said, “Structural task forces remain focused on defending homes and critical infrastructure-preparing for expected increases in fire activity throughout the day.”

Wildland firefighters were actively engaged securing lines on all ends of the fire. Pepe Delgado Incident Commander Trainee said, “On the southern portion of fire, continuing to scout and look for opportunities to safely engage in direct line construction.” The fire has spread into the Whychus and Deschutes canyons where access is difficult. Weather continues to be a challenge with hot, dry, and breezy conditions that continue to push the fire to the south through grass, brush, and timber.

To help fire operations and firefighter safety, The Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service ask that people stay out of the fire area.

Level 1, 2 and 3 evacuations remain in effect under the direction of the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Follow their Facebook page for the latest information and updates.

A Temporary Evacuation Point has been setup at Highland Baptist Church located at: 3100 SW Highland Ave, Redmond, OR. Jefferson County Fairgrounds is available for large animals and support is being provided by the Pet Evacuation Team.

Flat Fire Evening Update: 

Crews are actively engaged on the Flat Fire. Oregon State Fire Marshal structural task forces are conducting point protection around homes and critical infrastructure, directly engaging the fire as it gets close to structures – shifting conditions continue to challenge operations. At the same time, wildland crews are working closely with air resources to slow the fire’s forward progress and protect threatened structures.

Currently, 7 OSFM structural task forces are active on the incident, with 2 additional task forces engaging tonight. Wildland resources are also ramping up rapidly, with 350+ personnel already on the fire and more on the way.

Strong northeast winds are driving fire activity, creating challenging conditions for both ground and air crews. Despite these conditions, firefighters remain committed to protecting lives, homes, and communities.

Residents are urged to stay alert to evacuation notices and be prepared to act quickly if conditions change. For the most current evacuation information, visit the official map:

https://fr911orgis.maps.arcgis.com/.../weba.../index.html...

Flat Fire Update 2 pm Friday August 22, 2025:

For Lake Billy Chinook Public Lands 3, the southern half down to the Deschutes County border has all been moved up to a level three evacuation level.

Deschutes County has issued evacuations for their county along the border of the Flat Fire. Follow Deschutes County Sheriff's Office Oregon for further information.

Highland Baptist Church is a temporary evacuation site, 3100 SW Highland Ave, Redmond, OR 97756

Jefferson County Event Complex can take large animals starting at 5pm today in Madras, reach out to them for more information!

MAP: https://fr911orgis.maps.arcgis.com/.../weba.../index.html...

Update (12:25):

The North zones of CRR: CR11 and CR10N are both bumped from level one to LEVEL TWO. For Precaution, CR10S is being placed under a LEVEL ONE. Please see the screenshot for a visual.

MAP: Click here.

Currently at this time, the winds have pushed the fire in a southern direction. As the Crooked River Ranch area is placed under evacuation levels, we ask you to be overprepared. During the Alder Springs Fire, we learned how fast these fires can spread and traffic was a major issue. This is why we are issuing precautionary levels so use this extra time to load large animals and check in on your elderly neighbors that might not have Facebook.

Crooked River Ranch Fire & Rescue have set up phone lines for residents to call with questions. (541) 923-4639 or (541) 699-4353. Do you need extra assistance? Call these lines, let's be prepared together. - Per Jefferson County Oregon Sheriff on Facebook.

Morning Update:

A Central Oregon Type 3 Incident Management Team assumed command of the Flat Fire late yesterday evening, bringing additional resources and capacity to support firefighting operations and protect nearby communities.  The fire is in Unified Command with Ochoco National Forest, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon Department of Forestry, and Lake Chinook Fire and Rescue.

The fire was active overnight and grew to 3300 acres.  Firefighters worked through the night to protect structures and build fire line.

Fire Behavior & Weather

Hot and dry conditions persist across Central Oregon, sustaining active fire behavior on the Flat Fire. Smoke is expected to linger in the area, with impacts varying throughout the day depending on wind direction. These conditions will continue to challenge firefighting efforts and may affect visibility and air quality for nearby residents.

Planned Activities

Firefighters will secure line created last night, continue to build fire line along the east, west, and southern end of the fire, and continue protecting structures. Fire behavior is anticipated to be similar to yesterday with the continued hot, dry and breezy conditions.

Fire Size: Approximately 3,300 acres 

Fuels: Grass, brush, juniper

Resources: Aviation, Engines, Dozers, Crews