A fire that was reported Friday morning quickly prompted evacuation notices for people south of Bend. The fire broke out roughly 12.5 miles south of Bend, off China Hat Road, near Arnold Ice Cave. The area is a popular spot for people who like to hike, bike, hunt and do other forms of recreation.

The fire was burning primarily in juniper and sagebrush, and no structures were threatened as of Friday morning, but the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office did issue Level 1, 2 and 3 evacuation notices for various parts of the area, and advised people to stay away.

Current evacuations as of Friday at noon:

Level 3 (GO NOW)
Forest Service Road 18 in the area of Arnold Ice Cave

Level 2 (BE SET)
Areas west of Highway 20 near Horse Ridge
Swamp Wells Road in the area of Fuzztail Butte and Swamp Wells Butte

Level 1 (BE READY)
Fort Rock Road south of Horse Ridge and west of Highway 20

—This story will be updated.

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New Fire Off China Hat Prompts Evacuation Notices

by Nicole Vulcan, The Source - Bend, Oregon
August 7, 2026

<h1>New Fire Off China Hat Prompts Evacuation Notices</h1> <p class="byline">by Nicole Vulcan, The Source - Bend, Oregon <br />August 7, 2026</p> <p class="has-drop-cap">A fire that was reported Friday morning quickly prompted evacuation notices for people south of Bend. The fire broke out roughly 12.5 miles south of Bend, off China Hat Road, near Arnold Ice Cave. The area is a popular spot for people who like to hike, bike, hunt and do other forms of recreation. </p> <figure class="wp-block-image alignleft size-large is-resized"><img src="https://www.bendsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ChinaHatFire3-1024x768.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-96401" style="aspect-ratio:1.3333255597014926;width:420px;height:auto" /></figure> <p>The fire was burning primarily in juniper and sagebrush, and no structures were threatened as of Friday morning, but the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office did issue Level 1, 2 and 3 evacuation notices for various parts of the area, and advised people to stay away. </p> <p>Current evacuations as of Friday at noon: </p> <p><strong>Level 3 (GO NOW)</strong><br />Forest Service Road 18 in the area of Arnold Ice Cave</p> <p><strong>Level 2 (BE SET)</strong><br />Areas west of Highway 20 near Horse Ridge<br />Swamp Wells Road in the area of Fuzztail Butte and Swamp Wells Butte</p> <p><strong>Level 1 (BE READY)</strong><br />Fort Rock Road south of Horse Ridge and west of Highway 20</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://www.bendsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/shared-image-1024x576.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-96405" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The smoke plume from southeast Bend, off Byron Avenue, as of Friday morning. </figcaption></figure> <p><em>—This story will be updated. </em></p></p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com/news/localnews/new-fire-off-china-hat-prompts-evacuation-notices/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com&quot;&gt;The Source - Bend, Oregon&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.bendsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/cropped-Untitled-design-4.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=96399&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://www.bendsource.com/news/localnews/new-fire-off-china-hat-prompts-evacuation-notices/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/bendsource.com/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

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