HOPE — Firefighters have encircled 70 percent of the Cougar Fire burning east of town, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The estimated containment date, which had been forecasted for November, is now the middle of this month, the agency said in a post to InciWeb, an incident management clearinghouse website. The fire was at 7,636 acres on Wednesday.

The lightning-caused fire, which took hold in late July, has been exhibiting minimal activity with smoldering, creeping and backing fire.

Planned actions include taking necessary holding actions as fire approaches a fuel break in East Fork Creek. Established fuel breaks in the Porcupine and Wellington creek drainages will be monitored, while conditions in Rattle Creek will be monitored remotely.

Air resources will be utilized of fire threatens containment lines. Area, road and trail closures will remain in place. The Forest Service will also coordinate with Emergency Repair of Federally-Owned Roads contractor to complete infrastructure repair in Lightning Creek on the north end of the fire.

Temperatures dropped into the 40s over the fire early Wednesday morning, with good relative humidity recovery between 50-80 percent.

The Surprise Creek Fire, meanwhile, is at 78-percent containment, an InciWeb post said.

The fire, which is located south of Faset Peak in the Independence Creek drainage, was at 3,185 acres on Wednesday.

Fire activity is expected to be minimal with some backing, creeping, and smoldering fire behavior, as fuels continue to dry out from the precipitation event a week ago. The active perimeter and areas of intense heat will continue to burn, consuming large woody fuels, the Forest Service said.

A clear night dropped temperatures into the 40s over the fire. Relative humidity of 80 percent kept fire activity to a minimum. A sunny day raised temperatures to the 60s, with relative humidity dropping to 35 percent, the InciWeb post said.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.