Little Giant Fire remains top national priority as it grows 127,488 acres

LEAVENWORTH —The Little Giant Fire is at 127,488 acres as of Wednesday and is currently the highest priority fire in the nation.

During the Aug. 12 community meeting, Northwest Team 12 Incident Commander Jeff Dimke said this ranking has helped ensure the fire is getting support when resources are spread thin among fires across the country.

“Nationally, we're at Preparedness Level 5, which means we're at the top of our resource limit. There's no national teams left in the nation. We're out of hotshot crews. We're out of everything. 

So we're staffed rather well, considering,” said Dimke.

Dimke said more resources coming in have allowed the new team to focus on holding anchor points near Twin Lakes and Twenty-five Mile, as well as hold the fire from moving down the Entiat River drainage.

“Those are our three primary areas we are focused on. These other areas out here are forest, remote, there's no life or property at risk out there, and so we are focused on trying to reduce the risk of life and property,” said Dimke.

Evacuation notices are still in place across Chelan County, including the Entiat Valley, Lake Wenatchee and Lake Chelan areas.

“This is one big fire, but it's essentially like three different fires for us. We have three portions of our county that are significantly affected by evacuations on this fire,” said Chelan County Emergency Management Sergeant Jason Reinfeld.

Reinfeld stressed that Level 3 areas permit residents and property owners only; those permitted past the checkpoint should only travel to and from their residence or checkpoint.

“We don't want people just driving around sightseeing, even though they have a residence in the area,” said Reinfeld. “If something starts burning really bad, we want the roads to be clear.”

The Chelan County Emergency Incidents Map shows up to date evacuation orders for the area. Residents can also sign up to receive evacuation notifications via The county uses Everbridge Emergency Alert Program to send evacuation notifications directly to residents in the area. 

Humidity levels are expected to improve with thunderstorms and precipitation forecasted over the next four to five days, according to Incident Meteorologist Bob Tobin.

“It's not a really wet system,” said Tobin. “Some places along the border will see some very good precipitation, but for the most part, over our area, it's going to be on the light side.”

U.S. Forest Service Agency Administrator Jason Kuiken said that the agency was looking at narrowing the boundary around the north shore of Lake Chelan if conditions continue to improve over the next several days. The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest has issued a closure order for the Little Giant Fire Area, as well as a forest-wide campfire ban.

The incident management team is asking people to stay near the shore and clear of firefighting aircraft scooping water from area lakes and rivers.

There is also a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) over the fire area. Unauthorized drone activity is prohibited under this TFR, as firefighting helicopters and aircraft cannot fly when drones are present.

The lightning-caused fire started July 15 in the upper Chiwawa River drainage of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, about 20-30 miles northwest of Leavenworth.

The fire is currently at 5 percent containment, with 2,122 personnel, 58 engines, 51 crews, 157 heavy equipment, 28 water tenders, and five helicopters assigned.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media