Awatchfire

Chelan County, Washington

Little Giant Fire

Burning 30.3 miles north of Leavenworth and 31.7 miles north-east of Skykomish, since Wednesday 15 July.

Map of Washington. The Little Giant Fire burns 72 miles from Ellensburg and 75 miles from Seattle, and 117 miles from the state capital, Olympia.
The fire sits 72 miles from Ellensburg and 75 miles from Seattle.

156,448

acres burned so far — about 244 square miles

43

days burning so far

25%

of the perimeter held

The picture as of 1:52pm today

The Little Giant Fire is easing, but far from out. The last heat was seen 4 hours ago. What is burning has shifted 2.14 miles south-west over the last six hours.

Shaded relief map of the Little Giant Fire. Amber flames mark every place that gave off heat in the last day; the shading is the shape of the ground.
Heat in the last day Higher ground pale, valleys dark

4hours

since anything was last seen giving off heat — about 9:35am on Friday, local time.

86% less

energy in the last 6 hours of the record than in the 6 before them — the fire was cooler when it was last seen.

20.6miles

is how close the heat has come to Leavenworth at any point in the record. In the last day the nearest heat has been 21.2 miles from it, and the closest this fire has come to Skykomish is 27.5 miles, 27.8 in the last day.

13.2miles

is the furthest any heat has been seen from the point on the official record — the width of the ground involved so far.

Smoke has been recorded lying over this ground 46 times so far. The thickest of it was thick between 5:00am and 8:00am local time.

Three places are burning

3.8 miles north of the recorded point

44 readings of heat in the last day — 37% of everything the fire gave off in that time.

7.7 miles south of the recorded point

37 readings of heat in the last day — 27% of everything the fire gave off in that time.

8.0 miles east of the recorded point

27 readings of heat in the last day — 36% of everything the fire gave off in that time.

Conditions measured 11.3 miles from the fire: 51°F, air at 77% humidity, a 3 mph wind out of the west.

How it got here

Eight days of record on a day-45 fire

The record here begins at 9:02pm on 21 Aug and runs to 9:33am on 28 Aug — 156 hours, 2,052 readings of heat. The fire is on day 45, so the first 37 days are missing: nothing showed up from above until the fire was large enough and the sky over it clear enough for it to be seen.

Animated map of the Little Giant Fire across the whole record, with a time bar along the bottom showing energy released and the local date.
The whole record, 55 frames at 3 hours a frame. The bar along the bottom is energy released; the moving line is the clock.

Day by day 8 days of record

  1. Map for Fri 21 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Fri21 Aug

    First readings

    • 10 heat readings
    • Heat from 9:02pm to 9:02pm
    • Spread 12.5 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the night
  2. Map for Sat 22 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Sat22 Aug

    Flaring up

    • 176 heat readings
    • Energy 1.6 times the day before
    • Heat from 2:52am to 9:40pm
    • Spread 12.7 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, morning, afternoon and night
  3. Map for Sun 23 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Sun23 Aug

    Cooling off

    • 76 heat readings
    • Energy 88% down on the day before
    • Heat from 1:58am to 3:29pm
    • Spread 12.3 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, morning and afternoon
  4. Map for Mon 24 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Mon24 Aug

    Flaring up

    • 182 heat readings
    • Energy 8.1 times the day before
    • Heat from 2:13am to 9:19pm
    • Spread 12.8 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, morning, afternoon and night
  5. Map for Tue 25 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Tue25 Aug

    Holding

    • 277 heat readings
    • Energy 1.2 times the day before
    • Heat from 1:56am to 9:59pm
    • Spread 12.9 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, morning, afternoon and night
  6. Map for Wed 26 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Wed26 Aug

    The fiercest day

    • 618 heat readings
    • Energy 2.8 times the day before
    • Heat from 1:56am to 9:00pm
    • Spread 13.2 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, morning, afternoon and night
  7. Map for Thu 27 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Thu27 Aug

    Holding

    • 629 heat readings — the most of any day
    • Energy 33% down on the day before
    • Heat from 2:22am to 9:38pm
    • Spread 13.2 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, morning, afternoon and night
  8. Map for Fri 28 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Fri28 Auglatest

    Cooling off

    • 84 heat readings
    • Energy 95% down on the day before
    • Heat from 2:05am to 9:33am
    • Spread 13.2 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn and morning

25% of the perimeter is being reported as held. 1760 people are assigned to it. It has grown from 0 acres when it was first written down to 156,448 now. Heat was still showing within the last half-day, and the record still lists this fire as active.