Rowe Creek Complex

Wheeler County, Oregon · Complex (group of fires)

No longer active Official numbers updated Oct 2, 2026 (14 days ago)

First reported about 3 months ago

Metric	Last report	Now	Change
Size	373,928 acres Oct 16, 7:01 PM	373,928 acres Oct 17, 4:00 AM	—
Containment	99% Oct 2, 6:00 PM	100% Oct 17, 4:00 AM +1 percent was 99% · Oct 2, 6:00 PM	+1 percent in 14 days
Crew size	221 Sep 25, 6:00 PM	73 Oct 17, 4:00 AM −148 was 221 · Sep 25, 6:00 PM	−148 in 21 days
Money spent	$137.8M Sep 24, 8:00 PM	$138.3M Oct 17, 4:00 AM +$486,094 was $137.8M · Sep 24, 8:00 PM	+$486,094 in 22 days

Rowe Creek Complex summary

The Rowe Creek Complex is a group of wildfires (a “complex”) near Wheeler County, Oregon. It has burned about 373,928 acres (about 283,000 football fields). Crews have it fully contained, with a line all the way around it. It was first reported about 3 months ago. About 73 people are on it, run by a Type 4 IC.

Size: 373,928 acres
Containment: 100%
Discovered: July 15, 2026 (first reported about 3 months ago)
Cause: Not reported

The size and containment above are current as of Friday, October 16th at 7:01 p.m. CDT.

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Weather & fire-spread conditions

No Red Flag Warning. The National Weather Service hasn't flagged this area for dangerous fire-spread conditions right now.

Hot, dry, and windy weather can help a fire grow; cool, calm, or wet weather helps crews. The tags below rate each day for fire spread — green is calm, red can push a fire.

A general fire-weather guide (wind matters most, then how dry it is, then heat), not a prediction of what a specific fire will do.

	Day	Night
This Afternoon	76°F · Sunny Wind 10 mph SSE · 0% rain Wind: Breezy Heat: Warm Dry	50°F · Partly Cloudy Wind 7 to 10 mph ESE · 0% rain Wind: Breezy Heat: Cool Dry
Saturday	77°F · Mostly Sunny Wind 3 to 9 mph SSE · 0% rain Wind: Calm Heat: Warm Dry	46°F · Partly Cloudy Wind 2 mph NE · 0% rain Wind: Calm Heat: Cool Dry
Sunday	72°F · Sunny Wind 1 to 5 mph SE · 0% rain Wind: Calm Heat: Cool Dry	—

Forecast from the National Weather Service (weather.gov), pulled Friday, October 16th at 7:01 p.m. CDT.

Could this fire move fast?

Weather isn't the only thing that changes how a fire moves. The ground matters too: how steep it is, and what's growing on it. These four numbers are for the exact spot where this fire started, not the whole fire. A big fire crosses a lot of different ground.

1° slope

Fire usually moves faster uphill than downhill. Heat and flame lean uphill, drying out the ground above the fire before it gets there.

Fallen leaves and needles (TL3)

A moderate layer of pine needles with a few larger sticks and logs mixed in. Fire moves very slowly, with short flames.

45% tree canopy cover

The more tree cover above a fire, the easier it is for the fire to climb from the ground into the treetops. That's called a crown fire. Crown fires move faster, throw embers farther ahead of the fire, and are harder for crews to stop head-on.

2,710 ft elevation

Elevation by itself doesn't make a fire more or less dangerous. But it shapes the other three numbers here: what grows there, how dry things get, and what the weather does.

Elevation and slope from the USGS 3D Elevation Program; fuel type and canopy cover from LANDFIRE (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), pulled Thursday, September 10th at 3:41 p.m. CDT.

Who's on it

About 73 people are assigned to this fire, run by a Type 4 IC. About $138 million has been spent on it so far.

The official feed reports the total headcount, not a breakdown by crew type.

Where to get live updates

We show the daily official picture. For minute-by-minute updates, evacuation orders, and maps, these do it best:

→ Watch Duty: real-time fire reporting and evacuations.
→ InciWeb: the government's official fire information site.

Nearby fires to Rowe Creek Complex

No other active fires are near this one right now. It's on its own.

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