Little Giant FirePlain, Washington

Little Giant Fire

September 15, 2026 · Morning report · Plain, Washington

Data captured Sep 15, 8:10 AM PDT · unofficial & automated — in an emergency use Watch Duty and official alerts, not this page

This is an archived report from September 15, 2026 · Morning. Read the latest brief →

A fifth straight quiet cycle — the GIS perimeter ticked up 22 acres to 172,705 (still 81% contained), no zone edits, nearest edge unchanged at 5.2 mi NNE. VIIRS logged zero region-wide detections again and all five near-Plain heat clusters remain flat. Skies are cool with a slight chance of showers and air quality holding Good.

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 Sep 1, 9:10 AM PDT.

Fire size172,705 ac+22 since last report
Contained81%of the perimeter, per NIFC
Nearest fire edge5.2 miNNE of the house · as of Sep 15, 5:44 AM PDT
Satellite heat, 24 hnoneno detections in the surrounding ~50 mi
Air quality40 AQIGood · 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 Sep 15, 5:44 AM 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 GIS perimeter now reads 172,705 acres, still 81% contained (perimeter dated Sep 15, 5:44 AM PDT, about 2.5 hours old at capture) — a 22-acre tick up from last night's 172,683, within normal mapping-refinement noise on a 172,000-acre fire. InciWeb's most recent daily update, posted Sep 14, is still the latest one on the page — no new post overnight — and carries the same 172,695 acres and 81% containment, describing continued smoldering, heavy-fuel consumption, and isolated creeping or flare-ups under recent wetting rain. Personnel assigned fell to 697, down from 758 the prior evening — a drop consistent with a well-contained fire beginning to demobilize rather than any change in conditions.

No zone anywhere on the perimeter has been edited since Sep 3. The Level 1 ring closest to the house holds at 2.0 mi NNE (unedited since Sep 1), and the nearest Level 3 ring is unchanged at 5.1 mi N. Nothing here trips the tracker's alert condition.

VIIRS logged zero detections region-wide in the last 24 hours — the fifth consecutive zero read. All five near-Plain clusters are unchanged in distance, detection count, and distinct-day count from last night — no new detections in any of them — and all remain classified persistent, sitting inside the fire's existing mapped footprint: 6.1 mi NE (7 over 3 days), 6.7 mi NE (20 over 4 days), 8.5 mi NNE (3 over 2 days), 8.9 mi NNE (9 over 3 days), and 10.1 mi NNE (8 over 2 days). A full news sweep (InciWeb above; lakewenatcheeinfo.com — unreachable again; Lake Chelan Now, still showing only its Sep 12 RAWS weather-station piece, nothing on geometry; the Chelan County active-emergencies page — the primary domain is blocked by egress policy, and the alternate co.chelan.wa.us page that loaded is dated Aug 17, well past the 10-day staleness threshold for boundary claims, so discarded; wasmoke.blogspot.com, now showing a Sep 11 post on satellite hot spots and moderate-to-unhealthy smoke in Cle Elum, Chelan, and Leavenworth — four days old and not new information; and a general search, which surfaced only older Wenatchee World and Lake Chelan Mirror articles from earlier growth stages between July and early September — discarded as stale) found nothing new beyond InciWeb's personnel figure above.

Fire weather

Today runs light and northwesterly, around 1 mph — the favorable quadrant, pushing the fire southeast and away from Plain — under mostly cloudy skies with a 30% chance of showers and patchy fog, high 62 (falling to around 60 in the afternoon). Tonight holds northwest, around 1 mph with a slight chance of showers, low 38 rising to 40. Wednesday shifts to north, around 2 mph — technically the drainage-danger direction, but at this speed it isn't a push worth watching — with patchy morning fog clearing to sunny, high 74; Wednesday night stays north, around 2 mph, clear, low 41. No sustained north/northeast wind appears in this forecast window, and no fire-weather (red flag) alert is in effect.

Air quality

Modeled AQI at the house is 40 (PM2.5 7.2 µg/m³) — still Good, up modestly from last night's 34 but well within the normal day-to-day range for an overcast, calm morning.

Roads: no new road 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

ZoneLevelFrom the houseBoundary last edited
Little GiantLevel 12 mi NNE (20°)Sep 1, 9:10 AM PDT
Little GiantLevel 35.1 mi N (357°)Sep 3, 2:31 PM PDT
Little GiantLevel 314.3 mi NE (48°)Sep 3, 2:33 PM 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

  • TodayNW 1 mphChance Rain Showers · 62°F
  • TonightNW 1 mphSlight Chance Rain Showers then Patchy Fog · 38°F
  • WednesdayN 2 mphPatchy Fog then Sunny · 74°F
  • Wednesday NightN 2 mphClear · 41°F
  • ThursdayNW 0 to 3 mphSunny · 81°F
  • Thursday NightW 5 mphClear · 44°F
  • FridayNW 1 to 5 mphSunny · 80°F
  • Friday NightNW 3 mphMostly Clear · 44°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.