On the morning of August 16, thunderstorms moved across Oregon, starting multiple fires, including the Beachie Creek Fire, the Lionshead Fire, and the P-515 Fire. The Lionshead and P-515 Fires were ignited in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, near Mount Jefferson, while the Beachie Creek Fire was ignited near Opal Creek, to the west of the other two fires. Initially, the three fires were unremarkable, being relatively small wildfires that smoldered in the rugged terrain of the Opal Creek and Mount Jefferson Wildernesses, within the Willamette National Forest. However, the fires gradually grew in size, since firefighters opted to use only indirect methods and water drops to fight the fires, due to the dangers of directly fighting the fires in the steep, mountainous terrain. State authorities closed off portions of the national forest where the fires were burning, in an attempt to keep the fires boxed in. Fire officials noted the potential for the fires to become active and explosively spread under the right conditions, despite their small size at the time.