High Winds Push Little Giant Fire Towards Lake Chelan, Evacuations Elevated In Some Areas

A round of brisk winds over the weekend aided in enlarging a wildfire in Chelan County, as new evacuations were also issued.

The Little Giant Fire sparked on July 15 from a lightning strike on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest about 40 miles northwest of Leavenworth, and has since grown to a current estimated size of 38,530 acres with 0% containment as of Sunday (Aug. 2) evening.

The fire grew significantly on Saturday, pushed by wind gusts as high as 50 mph under a Red Flag Warning, and prompting a new set of evacuations for the south shore of Lake Chelan.

The orders include a Level 3 Evacuation Notice for homes on South Lakeshore Road from 25-Mile Creek to Fields Point Landing, as well as a Level 2 notice for residents from Fields Point Landing to Kelly's Bypass Road, and a Level 1 Fire Advisory from Kelly's Bypass Road to the junction of State Route 971 (Navarre Coulee Road).

The new evacuations add to a litany of others which remain in place for areas in the Entiat Valley and near the Chiwawa River Drainage.

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The fire's eastern flanks have been the most active over the past 36-48 hours, where the flames crossed the Entiat River north of Silver Falls Campground and moved along a ridge towards Shady Pass, Big Hill, and the Duncan Hill Trailhead.

The brisk winds also blew embers across the waters of Lake Chelan to its north side, where a spot fire has also prompted new evacuations northwest of Manson.

A lack of available fuels minimized activity on the blaze's southern flank along Chikamin Ridge, as well as its western edge near Chiwawa Ridge, and the blaze's northern side in the Maple Creek vicinity, where it has now entered the Glacier Peak Wilderness near the western slope of Fifth of July Mountain into Rock Creek just north of Estes Butte.

Aerial suppression measures are continuing when and where possible, particularly via helicopter water drops, while crews on the ground continue their efforts to build and bolster containment lines.

Smoke impacts from the inferno have expanded as its growth increased in recent days, creating unhealthy air quality readings in the Chelan and Manson areas, and impacting air quality levels in other nearby communities such as Azwell, Bridgeport, Brewster, Entiat, Mansfield, Orondo, Pateros, Waterville, Withrow, and at times the Wenatchee Valley.

The fire's recent movements have now placed thousands of homes at risk, but thus far, no structures are known to have been damaged or destroyed and there have been no injuries reported.

A community meeting regarding the fire has been scheduled for tomorrow (Monday, Aug. 3) at 6:30 p.m. at the Chelan County Fire District No. 8 station, located at 2200 Entiat Way in Entiat.