Castle Fire, Tiller, Oregon — Map & Containment

Castle Fire, Tiller, Oregon — Sentinel-2 true color

Castle Fire, Tiller, Oregon — Sentinel-2 SWIR (fuego)

True view Fire view

⟷

True view (left): as the eye sees it.
Fire view (right): infrared (SWIR), sees through smoke and brings out the heat.

🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 brown = already burned
🟠 orange = fire right now

Drag to compare: normal photo on the left, heat brought out on the right.

Green: vegetationBrown: already burnedOrange: fire right nowSentinel-2 · Copernicus

Key facts

Source: NIFC

Location23 miles northeast of Tiller, OR

CauseNatural

What's burningShort Grass (1 foot)

How it's behavingMinimalSmoldering — Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.

ComplexityType 3 IncidentOfficial scale from 5 to 1: a Type 1 is the most complex in the country.

JurisdictionUSFS · Federal land

Cost so far$23.6 million

Glossary: what each term means

Minimal

Barely moving. Low, thin smoke.

Smoldering

Burning without flame, in the ground or in roots. Can flare up days later.

Creeping

Moves slowly, hugging the ground.

Moderate

Spreads with low, steady flames.

Active

Spreading evenly and steadily, with visible flame.

Extreme

Fast and unpredictable.

Running

Runs along the ground much faster than a person walks.

Flanking

Grows along the sides, not head-on.

Backing

Moves against the wind or downhill, which makes it slower.

Crowning

Climbs into the treetops and jumps crown to crown. It can't be attacked from the ground.

Short Crown Runs

Climbs into the crowns in bursts and drops back down.

Torching

Whole trees flaring up like torches.

Isolated Torching

Single scattered trees flaring up whole, like torches.

Group Torching

Whole clumps of trees flaring at once.

Spotting

Wind carries embers through the air and starts new fires ahead of the front: that is how a fire jumps a road or a firebreak.

Wind Driven Runs

The wind pushes it in long runs in one direction.

The ones marked ● are the behaviors that make a fire harder to stop. They are not a warning or an instruction: they are the description written by the agency in charge. For decisions, always follow your emergency services.

The story so far

The natural-caused Castle Fire in Douglas County, Oregon, located 23 miles northeast of Tiller, burned across 3,615 acres of federal land managed by the USFS before finally ending after a 93-day run that began on July 23, 2026. Over the course of its nearly three-month duration, the incident averaged a slow growth of about 39 acres per day through short grass fuels standing one foot tall, ultimately concluding with minimal, smoldering fire behavior.

Operations to suppress the blaze involved 114 personnel working under a Type 3 Incident command, bringing the total cost of the response to about $23.6 million. The fire burned during the region's typical fire season, which runs from June to October. On a national level, the broader context shows that 3,453,410 hectares have burned so far in 2026, marking a figure that is 37% below the two-decade average.

All suppression efforts for the Castle Fire have successfully reached 100 percent containment, marking the official end of the incident.