Little Giant FirePlain, Washington

Little Giant Fire

August 31, 2026 · Evening report · Plain, Washington

Data captured Aug 31, 4:13 PM PDT · unofficial & automated — in an emergency use Watch Duty and official alerts, not this page

This is an archived report from August 31, 2026 · Evening. Read the latest brief →

Major move for the house: the Sheriff's office redrew the Level 1 "Get Ready" zone at 8:34 AM PDT, and for the first time since Aug 25 the reference point is no longer inside any mapped evacuation zone — nearest zone now 2.0 mi NNE. That comes only from the GIS layer; InciWeb's own 9 AM update and every other listed source stayed silent on it, so treat it as GIS-confirmed but not yet publicly announced. Acreage grew 7,706 to 170,784 with containment flat at 49%, air quality's PM2.5 improved sharply, and wind stays mostly favorable.

Evacuation status

The Bennetts' house is outside every evacuation zone.

Nearest zone boundary: Little Giant Level 1 (get ready), 2 mi NNE of the house — boundary last moved Aug 31, 8:34 AM PDT.

Fire size170,784 ac+7,706 since last report
Contained49%of the perimeter, per NIFC
Nearest fire edge5.2 miNNE of the house · as of Aug 31, 1:47 PM PDT
Satellite heat, 24 h6.7 minearest detection, NE of the house · 370 in the surrounding ~50 mi
Air quality90 AQIModerate · modeled at the house
County road blocksnonelogged by the county · construction delays are in Roads, below
PlainLake WenatcheeFish LakeColes CornerAlder CreekTwin CreekAtkinson FlatTrinityLeavenworthStevens Pass5.2 miThe Bennetts' housefire continues east →
  • 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 31, 1:47 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 headline this cycle is a zone change, not a fire behavior change. At 8:34 AM PDT, the Sheriff's office redrew the Level 1 "Get Ready" polygon that has held the house since Aug 25 — and for the first time in 7 days, the reference point falls outside it, with the nearest zone now that same redrawn Level 1, 2.0 mi NNE. In the same few minutes the county also touched LG Entiat's zones and LG Chelan Level 3 (still 15.1 mi NE, unchanged). Across all three complexes the pattern is consistent: the separate "Level 2 Get Set" rings at Little Giant and LG Entiat are gone, folded into single larger Level 1 polygons, and LG Chelan's Level 1 zone has dropped out entirely. Level 3 "Go Now" is untouched at 3.7 mi NNE (last edited Aug 16), and the "Little Giant-Level 1" outlier at 4.9 mi N is also unchanged.

This is a GIS-layer fact, not yet a public one. InciWeb's Aug 31, 9 AM update — posted less than half an hour after the redraw — says nothing about any evacuation change; Chelan County EM's own page couldn't be reached this run (network block); lakewenatcheeinfo.com, Lake Chelan Now, wasmoke.blogspot.com, and a general search all came up empty on it. Zone boundaries come only from the Sheriff's layer, so this brief reports the redraw as real — but treat "no longer mapped inside a zone" as GIS-confirmed, not a formal all-clear, until a county notice says so.

The GIS perimeter is now dated Aug 31, 1:47 PM PDT170,784 acres, 49% contained, up 7,706 acres from this morning with containment flat. InciWeb's 9 AM figure (163,089 acres, also 49%) is the closer-to-house snapshot; the gap is five hours of subsequent growth, not a disagreement. The mapped fire perimeter itself holds flat at 5.2 mi NNE — the zone change happened without the perimeter moving.

VIIRS logged 370 detections regionally, down from this morning's 398. Nearest to the house holds low: 6.7 mi NE, FRP 0.62, a 12-hour-old, nominal-confidence, persistent-flank detection. The 5.2 mi NNE cluster flagged UNVERIFIED this morning is unchanged and still dates entirely to Aug 24 — old heat resurfacing, not a new start.

What stands between the fire and Plain

Level 1 "Get Ready" now starts 2.0 mi NNE instead of covering the house directly, Level 3 "Go Now" still 3.7 mi NNE, and the fire perimeter itself 5.2 mi NNE — all unmoved except the Level 1 line. Until a county notice confirms the redraw is an intentional downgrade rather than a mapping cleanup, treat the practical buffer as unchanged from yesterday.

Fire weather

No Red Flag Warning. Wind is favorable: S 5 mph this afternoon, pushing fire and smoke north, away from the house; backing NW 0–3 mph tonight and NW 1–8 mph (gusts to 18) Tuesday, with a 20% rain chance. Real rain builds midweek — 90% Wednesday, 80% Thursday — the best stretch on the books.

Air quality

AQI 90 (PM2.5 11.5 µg/m³, PM10 11.9) as of 4 PM — Moderate, and PM2.5 down sharply from this morning's 47.5 even though the headline AQI ticked up slightly from 86. NWS reissued its Air Quality Alert at 9:02 AM PDT, now running through Sep 1, 12:00 PM PDT, a day longer than this morning's version.

Roads: no blocks logged in the GIS layer.

What I'd watch

  • Whether InciWeb, Chelan County EM, or any listed news source confirms the Level 1 redraw as an intentional downgrade in the next cycle, versus it reading as a mapping cleanup with no real change underneath.
  • Whether the redrawn Level 1 zone (now 2.0 mi NNE) gets touched again with a boundary move toward the house, rather than holding at today's new line.
  • The 5.2 mi NNE heat cluster, still built entirely from Aug 24 detections — watch for a second, more recent day showing up before treating it as anything but old heat.

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

ZoneLevelFrom the houseBoundary last edited
Little Giantchanged <24 hLevel 12 mi NNE (20°)Aug 31, 8:34 AM PDT
Little GiantLevel 33.7 mi NNE (16°)Aug 16, 3:21 PM PDT
Little GiantLevel 14.9 mi N (351°)Aug 29, 2:17 PM PDT
LG EntiatLevel 38.4 mi ENE (58°)Aug 22, 1:43 PM PDT
LG Entiatchanged <24 hLevel 111.3 mi ENE (72°)Aug 31, 8:35 AM PDT
LG Chelanchanged <24 hLevel 315.1 mi NE (53°)Aug 31, 8:36 AM PDT
StehekinLevel 139.7 mi N (356°)Aug 29, 2:02 PM 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 Sep 1, 12:00 PM PDT

  • This AfternoonS 5 mphSunny · 79°F
  • TonightNW 0 to 3 mphMostly Cloudy then Haze · 51°F
  • TuesdayNW 1 to 8 mphHaze then Slight Chance Rain Showers · 82°F
  • Tuesday NightNW 5 to 8 mphChance Rain Showers · 48°F
  • WednesdayW 5 mphShowers And Thunderstorms · 69°F
  • Wednesday NightSW 0 to 3 mphRain Showers · 45°F
  • ThursdayW 2 mphShowers And Thunderstorms · 62°F
  • Thursday NightNW 0 to 3 mphRain Showers Likely · 42°F

Report history

ReportFire size (GIS)ContainedNearest edgeZone status
Sep 17 · Evening172,814 ac81%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 17 · Morning172,814 ac+10981%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 16 · Evening172,705 ac81%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 16 · Morning172,705 ac81%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 15 · Evening172,705 ac81%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 15 · Morning172,705 ac+2281%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 14 · Evening172,683 ac1281%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Previous reports(69)
Sep 14 · Morning172,695 ac81%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 13 · Evening172,695 ac81%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 13 · Morning172,695 ac81%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 12 · Evening172,695 ac81%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 12 · Morning172,695 ac+10381%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 11 · Evening172,592 ac+19181%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 11 · Morning172,401 ac81%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 10 · Evening172,401 ac+481%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 10 · Morning172,397 ac+19881%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 9 · Evening172,199 ac+3281%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 9 · Morning172,167 ac+64181%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 8 · Morning171,526 ac+6881%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 7 · Evening171,458 ac81%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 7 · Morning171,458 ac+29581%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 6 · Evening171,163 ac81%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 6 · Morning171,163 ac81%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 5 · Evening171,163 ac81%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 5 · Morning171,163 ac+17881%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 4 · Evening170,985 ac81%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 4 · Morning170,985 ac+1773%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 3 · Evening170,968 ac+21365%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 3 · Morning170,755 ac65%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 2 · Evening170,755 ac+11049%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 2 · Morning170,645 ac+549%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 1 · Evening170,640 ac14449%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Sep 1 · Morning170,784 ac49%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Aug 31 · Evening170,784 ac+7,70649%5.2 mi NNEoutside all zones
Aug 31 · Morning163,078 ac1149%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 30 · Evening163,089 ac+53527%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 30 · Morning162,554 ac+1427%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 29 · Evening162,540 ac+29627%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 29 · Morning162,244 ac71727%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 28 · Evening162,961 ac+1,82925%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 28 · Morning161,132 ac+11,27125%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 27 · Evening149,861 ac23%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 27 · Morning149,861 ac23%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 26 · Evening149,861 ac+2,23523%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 26 · Morning147,626 ac23%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 25 · Evening147,626 ac+1,58421%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 25 · Morning146,042 ac21%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 24 · Evening146,042 ac+1,21215%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 24 · Morning144,830 ac15%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 23 · Evening144,830 ac+2,60415%5.2 mi NNELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 23 · Morning142,226 ac15%5.3 mi NELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 22 · Evening142,226 ac+815%5.3 mi NELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 22 · Morning142,218 ac+2,73115%5.3 mi NELittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 21 · Evening139,487 ac12%6.6 mi NLittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 21 · Morning139,487 ac+91012%6.6 mi NLittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 20 · Evening138,577 ac+10212%6.6 mi NLittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 20 · Morning138,475 ac+88212%6.6 mi NLittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 19 · Evening137,593 ac+29910%6.7 mi NLittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 19 · Morning137,294 ac+1,30910%6.8 mi NLittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 18 · Evening135,985 ac10%7 mi NLittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 18 · Morning135,985 ac+1,35010%7 mi NLittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 17 · Evening134,635 ac+2,28410%7.1 mi NLittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 17 · Morning132,351 ac10%7.3 mi NLittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 16 · Evening132,351 ac10%7.3 mi NLittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 16 · Morning132,351 ac+4,26610%7.3 mi NLittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 15 · Evening128,085 ac10%8.1 mi NLittle Giant - Level 1 (Get Ready)
Aug 15 · Morning128,085 ac10%8.1 mi Noutside all zones
Aug 14 · Evening128,085 ac7%8.1 mi Noutside all zones
Aug 14 · Morning128,085 ac2197%8.1 mi Noutside all zones
Aug 13 · Evening128,304 ac+5335%8.1 mi Noutside all zones
Aug 13 · Morning127,771 ac+2835%8.1 mi Noutside all zones
Aug 12 · Evening127,488 ac5%8.6 mi NNWoutside all zones
Aug 12 · Morning127,488 ac+5,0875%8.6 mi NNWoutside all zones
Aug 11 · Evening122,401 ac2%8.6 mi NNWoutside all zones
Aug 11 · Morning122,401 ac+5,4452%8.6 mi NNWoutside all zones
Aug 10 · Evening116,956 ac2%8.6 mi NNWoutside all zones

Sources

Previous briefs

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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.