Cloud cover moderates Little Giant Fire before conditions turn hotter

LEAVENWORTH — The Little Giant Fire is sitting at 138,475 acres as of Thursday morning as cloud cover helped moderate activity over Wednesday.

Firefighters are preparing for increased fire activity over Thursday and Friday as conditions become hotter, drier and unstable.

There will be a virtual community meeting Thursday, Aug. 20, at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be streamed to the Little Giant Facebook Page. Presenters will answer questions after the meeting, and questions can be submitted in advance via email to 2026.littlegiant@firenet.gov.

On Wednesday,  heavy mop-up and chipping operations continued from Twin Lakes to Chiwawa River Road in the Chiwawa drainage, as well as secondary fireline construction on Pole Ridge Road and near Dirtyface Lake.

On the east side of the Chiwawa River, firefighters continued to successfully hold the Chiwawa River Road and made slow, deliberate progress with strategic firing operations along primary containment lines near Alder Creek Road. Structure protection groups remain active in Alder Creek and Burgess Mountain.

In the Entiat drainage, crews continued protecting structures while locating and extinguishing isolated heat pockets farther up the drainage. Masticators and crews are continuing to clear fuels along the dozer line extending south from the fire’s western flank, where the fireline continues to hold.

On the east side of the Entiat River, firefighters made progress with limited strategic firing operations along the dozer line at the end of Forest Service Road 310, removing fuels between the active fire edge and the containment line to strengthen control lines.

Officials report that contingency lines on the north shore of Lake Chelan are complete, freeing additional resources to work on the numerous contingency lines throughout the southeastern portion of the fire. The specialized Wildland Fire Modules working in Lucerne are nearing completion of their structure protection work and will remain in the area to patrol the northern end of the fire along the south shore of Lake Chelan.

Thursday morning, the Little Giant Fire’s incident management team, Northwest Team 12, took command of the Sisi and Agnes fires burning west of Stehekin.

Helicopters and water scoopers worked to drop water on the Little Giant Fire throughout the day, and one heavy helicopter assisted with water bucket drops on a new fire near Winthrop Wednesday.

Current evacuation orders for the area can be found on the Chelan County Emergency Incidents Map. Residents can also sign up to receive direct evacuation notifications via the Everbridge Emergency Alert Program. A Red Cross shelter has been established at Entiat Warehouse Community Church, 14916 US-97A, Entiat. For information, call 509-784-2710.

The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest has issued a closure order for the Little Giant Fire Area, as well as a forest-wide campfire ban. A Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) is also in effect over the fire area. Unauthorized drone activity is prohibited under this TFR, as firefighting helicopters and aircraft cannot fly when drones are present.

The incident management team is asking people to stay near the shore and clear of firefighting aircraft scooping water from area lakes and rivers.

The lightning-caused fire started July 15 in the upper Chiwawa River drainage of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, about 20-30 miles northwest of Leavenworth.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media