The Rattlesnake Fire was a wildfire started by an arsonist on July 9, 1953, in Powder House Canyon on the Mendocino National Forest in northern California.

The wildfire killed one Forest Service employee and 14 volunteer firefighters from the New Tribes Mission, and burned over 1,300 acres (530 ha) before it was controlled on July 11, 1953.

The arsonist, Stanford Pattan, started two fires, one on private land and the other along Alder Springs Road inside the national forest boundary.

The second fire continued burning uphill in what is known as Rattlesnake Canyon; it was reported mid-afternoon and numerous fire crews responded -- from the Forest Service and the state, along with a pick-up crew hired from the New Tribes Mission at Fouts Springs.

At about 9 p.m., however, as detailed in John N. Maclean's 2018 book River of Fire, the wind picked up, reversed direction, and poured downhill.