Firefighters battled the blaze for over a week as the fire consumed rangeland and juniper woodlands east and then southeast of Glass Buttes.

[1][2][4] On 2 August 2017, a fire was reported on public land about 10 miles (16 km) west of the small unincorporated gas-stop junction of Riley.

Because of the continuing hot-dry weather, the fire risk was upgraded, prompting a request for additional firefighters and operating equipment.

In addition, the new risk assessment triggered an order for a larger fire management team which was scheduled to arrive the following day.

[4][3][5] Over the weekend of 5 and 6 August, gusty winds made firefighting a challenge as the crews worked to expand fire lines.

The firefighting efforts consisted of hand-cut fire lines and pumper truck crews spraying water on the flames along with retardant drops from the air.

As additional firefighting resources arrived from stations throughout the Pacific Northwest and more heavy equipment became available, the fire lines were widened and extended all along the perimeter.

At the peak of the operation, there were 496 firefighters on-site along with 26 pumper trucks, 4 bulldozers, 11 water tenders, 2 helicopters, and a small spotter plane working on the fire.

Crews also began fire suppression damage repair including restoration of sage grouse habitat areas.

[10][11] In the Bureau of Land Management's final update, the size of the Cinder Butte Fire was reported as 52,465 acres (212.32 km2).

[13] At its peak, there were 496 firefighters from the Bureau of Land Management, United States Forest Service, and several other agencies working on the fire.