Little Giant Fire

The last 24 hours

The fire made a sustained 3.5-mile run down the Entiat River canyon overnight and the incident team extended the LG Entiat Level 3 zone this morning (9:31 AM) — that boundary sits 8.4 mi ENE of the house, on the opposite side of the fire from Plain. The NIFC situation report puts the fire at 111,429 acres (+13,890) and 2% contained, with 1,807 personnel; the GIS perimeter mapped at 7:21 this morning reads 116,956 acres and is the working-current figure. Behavior remains extreme — crowning, fire whirls, spotting one to two miles.

What stands between the fire and Plain

The picture on the Plain side is unchanged: the fire's nearest mapped edge is 8.6 mi NNW of the house, and every Plain-side zone boundary has been frozen since July 25–31. For fire to threaten Plain it would have to push south across the containment work on the southwest corner — the 62 Road line (holding well as of Aug 7), the Meadow Ridge burn now in mop-up, and the Pole Ridge contingency line — or spot long distances down the Chiwawa on a north wind. Crews are also prepping a firing plan near DP175 specifically to limit southern spread. Satellite heat near Plain all sits 8+ miles out on the fire's known southern and eastern flanks; a few single-day detections NE of the house match the eastward push toward Entiat and are unverified heat, not confirmed new fire.

Fire weather

Today's regime is the favorable one: NW winds 6–12 mph through Tuesday, pushing growth east and southeast — away from Plain. NWS Spokane keeps fire-weather risk "limited to elevated" and gives real rain chances Wednesday into Thursday (25% for wetting rain over the central Cascades, up to 75% further north). The catch: those showers may arrive with thunderstorms, and erratic outflow gusts are the one mechanism that could move the southwest flank regardless of the prevailing wind.

Air quality

Unhealthy. Modeled AQI at the house is 154 (PM2.5 ~63 µg/m³) and an Air Quality Alert runs until 11:30 AM tomorrow. The valley traps smoke even when regional transport improves — expect little relief until the Wednesday–Thursday weather change. Until then: windows closed, HVAC on recirculate, run the filter, and wear an N95 for anything outdoors.

Roads out of Plain

No road blocks are logged by the county. All three routes are open: Chumstick Hwy to Leavenworth carries paving delays up to 45 minutes (pilot car, 6 AM–7 PM, through Aug 14) per Lake Wenatchee Info; Beaver Valley Rd / SR 207 to US 2 is clear; US 2 is open both directions. The Forest Service closure (Chiwawa River Rd, White River Rd, Entiat River Rd, through Oct 31) affects recreation access, not residents.

What I'd watch

• ›Any edit to the Plain-side Little Giant zones — Level 1 has been frozen since July 31 at 11:17 AM, and a change there is the clearest escalation signal.
• ›Whether the southern containment work — the 62 Road line and the DP175 firing plan — keeps holding as the fire pushes south and east.
• ›Wednesday–Thursday thunderstorms: rain would be the first real help in weeks, but outflow winds are the risk that comes with it.