Little Giant Fire

August 21, 2026 · Evening report · Plain, Washington

Data captured Aug 21, 4:10 PM PDT · unofficial & automated — in an emergency use Watch Duty and official alerts, not this page

This is an archived report from August 21, 2026 · Evening. Read the latest brief →

Quiet cycle: the Bennetts' house stays inside the Level 1 "Get Ready" zone, unchanged since Aug 15, with the GIS perimeter flat at 139,487 acres and containment flat at 12%. The real news is upstream — NWS upgraded the weekend threat from a Fire Weather Watch to a Red Flag Warning for thunderstorms and gusty outflow winds Saturday into Sunday, same window, wind direction still favorable for Plain.

Evacuation status

The Bennetts' house is INSIDE Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready) (Level 1). Follow official instructions — see the sources below.

Fire size139,487 acGIS perimeter of Aug 20, 7:29 PM PDT

Contained12%of the perimeter, per NIFC

Nearest fire edge6.6 miN of the house · as of Aug 20, 7:29 PM PDT

Satellite heat, 24 h6.5 minearest detection, NNE of the house · 991 in the surrounding ~50 mi

Air quality68 AQIModerate · modeled at the house

County road blocksnonelogged by the county · construction delays are in Roads, below

Level 3 — Go now
Level 2 — Get set
Level 1 — Get ready
Fire perimeter
Satellite heat, 24 h (brighter = fresher)
The Bennetts' house

Evacuation zones from the Chelan County Sheriff's live layer; fire perimeter from NIFC as of Aug 20, 7:29 PM PDT. Base geography is hand-plotted and approximate. Rings mark straight-line miles from the house. Containment lines are not mapped — no public GIS source carries them; the brief describes where they are.

The last 24 hours

The house remains inside the Level 1 "Get Ready" zone, unchanged since the Aug 15 redraw. Level 2 "Get Set" holds at 2.0 mi NNE and Level 3 "Go Now" at 3.7 mi NNE, both untouched since Aug 16. The Entiat-side zones (Level 2 at 9.3 mi E, Level 3 at 8.4 mi ENE) carry no new edit either — all 11 zones flat, zero edits in the last 24h.

The GIS perimeter held at 139,487 acres, 12% contained (still dated Aug 20, 7:29 PM PDT — no fresh capture this cycle). InciWeb's Aug 21, 1:56 PM update now matches that figure exactly. Afternoon fire behavior was described as surface fire, backing, flanking, and uphill runs converging near Twin Lakes and Cougar Mountain — calmer than the "extreme, crowning, long-range spotting" reported overnight, and on the same branches away from the Plain-facing side. One new detail: the incident's Plain Base Camp took on 110 National Guard personnel as of Aug 20, part of a roster that's now 1,818 including recently arrived U.S. Army and Australia/New Zealand contingents. Level 3 remains in effect for the north shore of Lake Chelan (Deer Point to Safety Harbor Campground) — outside the 15 mi range that matters for Plain. Nearest perimeter edge to the house held exactly flat at 6.6 mi N.

VIIRS: nearest detection 6.5 mi NNE within the last 24h. The two single-day clusters flagged UNVERIFIED this morning — 9.5 mi NNE and 9.8 mi NNE — still show only Aug 21 detections; no second day yet, still unconfirmed, still well outside 15 mi. Nothing new appeared near Plain this cycle.

Lake Chelan Now's latest post still just repeats the community meeting notice (Tuesday, 6:30 PM, Lake Wenatchee Recreation Club). The Chelan County evacuation-zone page is still on its Aug 17, 3:30 PM post — now four days stale. lakewenatcheeinfo.com did not return usable content this cycle. A general search surfaced nothing dated today beyond InciWeb.

Fire weather

The weekend threat got sharper: NWS Spokane upgraded the Fire Weather Watch to a Red Flag Warning, same window — Saturday 11 AM through Sunday 8 AM — now naming a cold front bringing thunderstorms, strong west-to-southwest winds, and gusty outflow winds up to 40 mph, with lightning risk for new starts. The Saturday forecast wind itself is unchanged at NW 3–14 mph, gusts to 23 mph, which still pushes the fire east, away from Plain — but outflow gusts under a thunderstorm can be locally erratic, which is exactly what a Red Flag Warning is for. Today and tonight stay light and mixed (S ~2 mph, shifting to N ~3 mph), not a factor. A Heat Advisory ran through 10 PM tonight.

Air quality

AQI 68 (up from 59 this morning) but PM2.5 down to 10.5 µg/m3 from this morning's smoke-settled spike of 35.2 — the usual overnight-to- afternoon pattern reversing. NWS renewed the Air Quality Alert for Chelan, Douglas, and Okanogan counties, now open-ended ("until further notice") rather than a fixed cutoff.

Roads: no blocks logged.

The plan, decided in advance

If a Level 1 zone reaches the house: confirm go-bags, documents, and medications are staged; keep both vehicles above half a tank; recheck this page and Watch Duty morning and evening.
If Level 2 reaches the house: load the cars, position them facing out, and leave early if anyone is home alone or mobility-limited. Do not wait for Level 3 to decide.
If Level 3 reaches the house — leave immediately: primary route Beaver Valley Rd → SR 207 → US 2; alternate Chumstick Hwy to Leavenworth (mind the pilot-car delays); US 2 west over Stevens Pass if east is compromised.

Default plan drafted from Ready-Set-Go guidance — worth a family walk-through while things are calm. Authorities' instructions override it.

Evacuation zones, measured from the house

Zone	Level	From the house	Boundary last edited
Little Giant	Level 1	INSIDE THIS ZONE	Aug 15, 3:03 PM PDT
Little Giant	Level 2	2 mi NNE (20°)	Aug 16, 3:20 PM PDT
Little Giant	Level 3	3.7 mi NNE (16°)	Aug 16, 3:21 PM PDT
LG Entiat	Level 3	8.4 mi ENE (58°)	Aug 20, 2:58 PM PDT
LG Entiat	Level 2	9.3 mi E (89°)	Aug 20, 2:58 PM PDT
LG Entiat	Level 1	12.3 mi ESE (115°)	Aug 8, 5:51 PM PDT
LG Chelan	Level 3	15.1 mi NE (53°)	Aug 16, 3:17 PM PDT
LG Chelan	Level 2	16 mi ENE (76°)	Aug 19, 12:57 PM PDT
LG Chelan	Level 1	17.2 mi E (85°)	Aug 19, 12:57 PM PDT
LG Manson	Level 2	23 mi NNE (33°)	Aug 17, 10:52 AM PDT
LG Manson	Level 1	23.9 mi NE (42°)	Aug 17, 10:52 AM PDT

Zone geometry comes only from the Sheriff's GIS layer — news descriptions of boundaries have run 10+ days behind the actual polygon edits. Distances are straight-line to the zone boundary.

Wind and weather, next four days

Air Quality Alert — in effect until Aug 22, 3:00 PM PDT

Red Flag Warning — in effect until Aug 23, 8:00 AM PDT

Heat Advisory — in effect until Aug 21, 10:00 PM PDT

This AfternoonS 2 mphPatchy Smoke · 93°F
TonightN 3 mphPatchy Smoke then Slight Chance Rain Showers · 62°F
SaturdayNW 3 to 14 mphChance Showers And Thunderstorms · 85°F
Saturday NightNW 7 to 14 mphPartly Cloudy · 51°F
SundayNW 7 to 12 mphSunny · 74°F
Sunday NightNW 2 to 10 mphMostly Clear · 48°F
MondayNE 3 mphSunny · 85°F
Monday NightNW 3 mphMostly Clear · 55°F

Report history

Report	Fire size (GIS)	Contained	Nearest edge	Zone status
Sep 17 · Evening	172,814 ac	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 17 · Morning	172,814 ac+109	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 16 · Evening	172,705 ac	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 16 · Morning	172,705 ac	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 15 · Evening	172,705 ac	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 15 · Morning	172,705 ac+22	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 14 · Evening	172,683 ac−12	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones

Previous reports(69)

Sep 14 · Morning	172,695 ac	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 13 · Evening	172,695 ac	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 13 · Morning	172,695 ac	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 12 · Evening	172,695 ac	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 12 · Morning	172,695 ac+103	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 11 · Evening	172,592 ac+191	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 11 · Morning	172,401 ac	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 10 · Evening	172,401 ac+4	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 10 · Morning	172,397 ac+198	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 9 · Evening	172,199 ac+32	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 9 · Morning	172,167 ac+641	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 8 · Morning	171,526 ac+68	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 7 · Evening	171,458 ac	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 7 · Morning	171,458 ac+295	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 6 · Evening	171,163 ac	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 6 · Morning	171,163 ac	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 5 · Evening	171,163 ac	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 5 · Morning	171,163 ac+178	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 4 · Evening	170,985 ac	81%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 4 · Morning	170,985 ac+17	73%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 3 · Evening	170,968 ac+213	65%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 3 · Morning	170,755 ac	65%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 2 · Evening	170,755 ac+110	49%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 2 · Morning	170,645 ac+5	49%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 1 · Evening	170,640 ac−144	49%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Sep 1 · Morning	170,784 ac	49%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Aug 31 · Evening	170,784 ac+7,706	49%	5.2 mi NNE	outside all zones
Aug 31 · Morning	163,078 ac−11	49%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 30 · Evening	163,089 ac+535	27%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 30 · Morning	162,554 ac+14	27%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 29 · Evening	162,540 ac+296	27%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 29 · Morning	162,244 ac−717	27%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 28 · Evening	162,961 ac+1,829	25%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 28 · Morning	161,132 ac+11,271	25%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 27 · Evening	149,861 ac	23%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 27 · Morning	149,861 ac	23%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 26 · Evening	149,861 ac+2,235	23%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 26 · Morning	147,626 ac	23%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 25 · Evening	147,626 ac+1,584	21%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 25 · Morning	146,042 ac	21%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 24 · Evening	146,042 ac+1,212	15%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 24 · Morning	144,830 ac	15%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 23 · Evening	144,830 ac+2,604	15%	5.2 mi NNE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 23 · Morning	142,226 ac	15%	5.3 mi NE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 22 · Evening	142,226 ac+8	15%	5.3 mi NE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 22 · Morning	142,218 ac+2,731	15%	5.3 mi NE	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 21 · Evening	139,487 ac	12%	6.6 mi N	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 21 · Morning	139,487 ac+910	12%	6.6 mi N	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 20 · Evening	138,577 ac+102	12%	6.6 mi N	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 20 · Morning	138,475 ac+882	12%	6.6 mi N	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 19 · Evening	137,593 ac+299	10%	6.7 mi N	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 19 · Morning	137,294 ac+1,309	10%	6.8 mi N	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 18 · Evening	135,985 ac	10%	7 mi N	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 18 · Morning	135,985 ac+1,350	10%	7 mi N	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 17 · Evening	134,635 ac+2,284	10%	7.1 mi N	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 17 · Morning	132,351 ac	10%	7.3 mi N	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 16 · Evening	132,351 ac	10%	7.3 mi N	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 16 · Morning	132,351 ac+4,266	10%	7.3 mi N	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 15 · Evening	128,085 ac	10%	8.1 mi N	Little Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 15 · Morning	128,085 ac	10%	8.1 mi N	outside all zones
Aug 14 · Evening	128,085 ac	7%	8.1 mi N	outside all zones
Aug 14 · Morning	128,085 ac−219	7%	8.1 mi N	outside all zones
Aug 13 · Evening	128,304 ac+533	5%	8.1 mi N	outside all zones
Aug 13 · Morning	127,771 ac+283	5%	8.1 mi N	outside all zones
Aug 12 · Evening	127,488 ac	5%	8.6 mi NNW	outside all zones
Aug 12 · Morning	127,488 ac+5,087	5%	8.6 mi NNW	outside all zones
Aug 11 · Evening	122,401 ac	2%	8.6 mi NNW	outside all zones
Aug 11 · Morning	122,401 ac+5,445	2%	8.6 mi NNW	outside all zones
Aug 10 · Evening	116,956 ac	2%	8.6 mi NNW	outside all zones

Sources

Previous briefs

Full archive →

The limits of this page

This page is an automated, unofficial synthesis and can be wrong or stale. It is not a substitute for official alerts. For live evacuation status use Watch Duty, Chelan County Emergency Management, and Everbridge alerts. In an emergency, follow instructions from local authorities.