As the Archie Creek Fire bore down Sept. 8 on the community of Steamboat on the North Umpqua River, Melinda and Travis Woodward feared for their safety and that of their employees.

The Woodwards, owners of the Steamboat Inn, raced across the river to check on their own home as well as those of their friends and co-workers.

“We went over to make sure all of our staff was out, or at least they were leaving and had a place to go,” Melinda Woodward said through an interview via Facebook Messenger. The family’s connection to a telephone landline has yet to be repaired, and cellular reception in the area is weak.

“Somehow in the chaos, Fisher got out and ran into the woods,” she said, referring to the family’s 3-year-old cat, who had built a strong bond with the Woodwards’ 6-year-old daughter, Carmen. “We searched for him for hours, but we finally had to leave.”

The Woodwards fled east to find safety in Bend. They made it through the Diamond Lake corridor mere hours before state Highway 138 East was closed due to the Thielsen Fire.

All the while, the couple feared for Fisher, who had grown to be their daughter’s best friend.

An employee of the Steamboat Inn, which is located east of Roseburg in the Umpqua National Forest, had a cat that produced a litter of kittens in April 2017. The Woodwards adopted Fisher in June of that year, and the cat immediately formed a bond with Carmen.

“We got Fisher to be our ‘Inn Kitty,’ and he instantly bonded with her,” Melinda Woodward said. “He sleeps in her bed and pretty much lives in her room. He waits with her for the school bus in the morning and hangs out in her room for the day.

“And he comes out right before the school bus brings her home.”

Melinda Woodward said Carmen, a first grader at Glide Elementary, was “devastated” when the family returned home on Sept. 21 and Fisher was nowhere to be found.

“She’s used to sleeping with him every night,” Melinda Woodward said. “She had been having nightmares about the fire and was so sad that he wasn’t there to cuddle with when she would wake up.”

By her best guess, Melinda Woodward presumes that Fisher scurried down a forest road, crossed the highway, made his way up Steamboat Creek and lived off the land until it was safe to return to the inn.

The family hadn’t seen Fisher for two months. Recently, the smoky gray 3-year-old shot out from underneath a cabin near the Steamboat Inn.

“She’s so happy her kitty is home to snuggle with that she can’t stop shaking, and it’s all she can think about,” Melinda Woodward said on behalf of Carmen. “I’m pretty sure that’s all her teacher is going to hear about today.”