Little Giant Fire

The last 24 hours

The GIS perimeter now reads 128,304 acres, 5% contained as of 1:57 PM PDT — a gain of 533 acres since this morning's 127,771-acre reading, a slightly faster pace than the prior cycle's 283 acres but still modest by this fire's standards. InciWeb's Aug 13 update (posted 12:32 PM, carrying the prior 127,771-acre figure) describes "localized surface fire and uphill runs... in continuous fuels" with "backing, flanking and isolated/group tree torching," and notes showers and cloud cover continuing to moderate activity.

The bigger news is on the evacuation-zone layer, not the perimeter. Chelan County's Sheriff redrew two Plain-side zones this afternoon:

• ›Level 3 "Go Now" — sitting at 7.3 mi NNW since July 25 — was redrawn at 1:30 PM PDT and now shows its nearest edge at 5.1 mi N, a 2.2-mile advance toward the house and a continuation of the same NNW-to-N bearing shift the fire's own perimeter made overnight in the last brief.
• ›Level 2 "Get Set" was also redrawn, at 1:27 PM PDT, though its nearest edge held at 4.9 mi N — the boundary changed shape elsewhere, not at the point closest to the house.
• ›Level 1 "Get Ready," 2 mi NNE, is unchanged since July 31 and remains the single closest zone overall.

Three Chelan-side zones (Levels 1–3, 15.1–17.2 mi NE/ENE/E) were redrawn today as well; they sit outside the alert radius and don't bear on the Plain side. The house itself remains outside every zone.

What stands between the fire and Plain

Chelan County's public evacuation-zone page was last updated 11:01 AM today — before this afternoon's redraw — and still describes the Trinity boundaries in their prior terms (Level 3 to Twin Creek Road, Level 2 to Meadow Creek, Level 1 to south of Fish Lake). No news source has caught up to the 1:27–1:30 PM GIS edit yet; per this tracker's rules the GIS layer is the authoritative boundary regardless.

VIIRS still shows a cluster of unverified heat 7.7–8.3 mi N/NNW, largely the same detections flagged in the last two briefs (single-day, low FRP, in line with the fire's own leading edge) plus one small new one-day cluster at 8.3 mi NE. Nothing in today's news sweep (InciWeb, Lake Chelan Now, Washington Smoke Blog) independently reports a new start near Plain; this reads as continued fire-edge activity, not a separate ignition.

Fire weather

Light and not pushing toward Plain: E ~2 mph this afternoon, shifting NW (~3 mph) tonight, then W/NW through Monday — no north or northeast component (the Chiwawa/White River drainage-toward-Plain signal) anywhere in the seven-day window. The wildcard is tonight: a Red Flag Warning runs until 10 PM for thunderstorm outflow, with a 40% chance of thunderstorms today and a rising 60% chance Friday. Erratic outflow gusts are the one mechanism that could override the otherwise favorable pattern in the next 24 hours.

Air quality

Worse by the headline number: modeled AQI is 145 (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups), up from 126 this morning; PM2.5 is 60.1 µg/m³, roughly flat against 58.8. NWS Spokane has four stacked Air Quality Alerts in effect, the latest issued 3:28 PM and running through Aug 14, 4:00 PM.

Roads: no new road blocks logged. The Chumstick Hwy pilot-car paving delay remains in effect and is still scheduled to end tomorrow, Aug 14.

What I'd watch

• ›Whether Chelan County's public evacuation-zone description updates to match this afternoon's Level 2/3 redraw, and whether the county issues any accompanying notice for Trinity — right now the map layer has moved ahead of every narrative source.
• ›Whether the Level 3 zone's move to 5.1 mi N is the start of a sustained close-in toward Plain or a one-time boundary correction — the next sweep should clarify which.
• ›Tonight's thunderstorm outflow risk (Red Flag Warning through 10 PM): welcome rain potential, but the one wind scenario that could reverse the currently favorable regime.