Little Giant FirePlain, Washington

Little Giant Fire

September 16, 2026 · Morning report · Plain, Washington

Data captured Sep 16, 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 16, 2026 · Morning. Read the latest brief →

A seventh straight quiet cycle — the GIS perimeter is unchanged from yesterday morning at 172,705 acres, still 81% contained, no zone edits, nearest edge steady at 2.0 mi NNE. VIIRS logged detections region-wide for the first time in a week, but the nearest sits 41.7 mi N, well away from Plain, and all five near-Plain clusters remain flat. InciWeb flags a warming, drying trend arriving by Friday worth watching; air quality holds 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 acGIS perimeter of Sep 15, 8:47 AM PDT
Contained81%of the perimeter, per NIFC
Nearest fire edge5.2 miNNE of the house · as of Sep 15, 8:47 AM PDT
Satellite heat, 24 h41.7 minearest detection, N of the house · 20 in the surrounding ~50 mi
Air quality52 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 Sep 15, 8:47 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 still reads 172,705 acres, 81% contained (perimeter dated Sep 15, 8:47 AM PDT, about 23.5 hours old at capture) — completely flat against yesterday morning and evening, no change in acreage, containment, or nearest edge. InciWeb's update posted Sep 15 carries the same 172,705 acres and 81% containment, with personnel down to 687, from 697 the prior evening — continued gradual demobilization. Fire behavior is described as primarily smoldering and consumption of heavy dead/down fuels, stump holes, and scattered unburned pockets, with localized creeping or backing only where surface fuels have dried.

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 20 detections region-wide in the last 24 hours — the first non-zero region-wide read in a week — but the nearest sits 41.7 mi N, a single low-intensity detection (FRP 1.31, nominal confidence) far outside the near-Plain radius and unrelated to the clusters tracked below. All five near-Plain clusters (within 12 mi) are unchanged in distance, detection count, and distinct-day count from yesterday — no new detections in any of them — and all remain classified persistent, sitting inside the fire's existing mapped footprint: 6.1 mi NE (6 over 2 days), 6.7 mi NE (16 over 3 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, empty response; Lake Chelan Now, still showing only its Sep 12 RAWS weather-station piece, nothing on geometry; the Chelan County active-emergencies page — still dated Aug 17, well past the 10-day staleness threshold for boundary claims, so discarded; wasmoke.blogspot.com, most recent relevant post Sep 11 on moderate-to-unhealthy smoke in Cle Elum, Chelan, and Leavenworth — now five days old, nothing newer; and a general search, which surfaced only older Wenatchee World and Lake Chelan Mirror articles from earlier growth stages — 170,967 and 171,302 acres — all discarded as stale) found nothing new beyond InciWeb's personnel figure and the weather note below.

Fire weather

Today runs light and southerly, around 2 mph — blowing toward the fire from the house's direction, pushing it further north and away from Plain — sunny, high 74. Tonight turns north, around 1 mph, technically the drainage-danger direction but negligible at this speed, mostly clear, low 42 rising to 48. Thursday shifts west, around 2 mph — the favorable quadrant — sunny, high 81; Thursday night stays west, around 5 mph, mostly clear, low 46. No sustained north/northeast wind appears in this forecast window, and no fire-weather (red flag) alert is in effect.

Worth flagging: InciWeb's Sep 15 update notes high pressure building from today, with temperatures warming 10–15°F and minimum humidity dropping to 20–35% by Friday and through the weekend — conditions that could pick up fire activity even without a wind shift. Nothing actionable yet; next brief will check whether that shows up in detections or containment.

Air quality

Modeled AQI at the house is 52 (PM2.5 7.3 µg/m³) — still Good, similar to yesterday 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

  • TodayS 2 mphSunny · 74°F
  • TonightN 1 mphMostly Clear · 42°F
  • ThursdayW 2 mphSunny · 81°F
  • Thursday NightW 5 mphMostly Clear · 46°F
  • FridayW 1 to 5 mphSunny · 80°F
  • Friday NightNW 5 mphMostly Clear · 44°F
  • SaturdaySW 0 to 3 mphSunny · 80°F
  • Saturday NightNW 3 mphMostly Clear · 46°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.