Washington's Little Giant fire is No. 2 priority in the US, officials say

Catalina Gaitán, The Seattle Times on Aug 27, 2026

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SEATTLE — The Little Giant fire that has burned for more than a month and charred more than 240 square miles in Central Washington is the second-highest firefighting priority in the U.S., officials said.

Chelan County’s lightning-caused Little Giant fire, which started July 15 in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest about 30 miles northwest of Leavenworth, had reached 23% containment by Thursday, said Lauren Faulkenberry, a spokesperson for the fire’s incident management team.

By Thursday, there had been 13 injuries and no deaths in connection with the fire, Faulkenberry said.

The injuries likely all involved fire personnel, as there were no reports of residents who were hurt, said Rich Magnussen, a spokesperson for the Chelan County Department of Emergency Management.

The fire had also destroyed at least two primary homes and 13 secondary homes, according to the department. The county's evacuation map on Thursday showed nearly 2,400 residences in the area of the fire.

Officials rank the country’s highest-priority fires based on available firefighting resources and “values at risk,” including the number of homes and businesses, power infrastructure and water supply threatened by a fire, Faulkenberry said Thursday.

The McCully wildfire in eastern Oregon’s Wallowa-Whitman National Forest ranks No. 1 in the country's firefighting priority, Faulkenberry said.

Douglas firs, ponderosa pines, grasses and shrubs fueled the Little Giant fire's spread up the area's steep terrain, along with ongoing hot, dry and windy weather.

The fire for weeks has forced people west of Lake Chelan to evacuate. Some area businesses said they have been struggling to make a living.

Smoke from fires including the Little Giant prompted the state's ecology department on Thursday to issue an air quality alert “until further notice” for Chelan, Douglas and Okanogan counties.

More than 2,300 personnel are responding to the Little Giant, including firefighters from New Zealand and Australia and hundreds from Washington state’s National Guard and the U.S. Army’s Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Firefighters may get some help in the days ahead with the arrival of slightly cooler, more humid weather. But the Little Giant will likely be what officials call a season-ending fire," continuing to grow until winter arrives and brings enough cold weather to extinguish the flames, Magnussen said.

"This fire is probably going to burn until the snow starts flying," he said. "The goal now is to not lose any more structures and just keep it contained.

The fire’s estimated cost exceeded $101 million by Thursday, making it the country’s second-costliest active wildfire.

The cost of Colorado’s 159-square-mile Aspen Acres wildfire, which had destroyed at least 915 structures, surpassed $103 million by Thursday, according to a National Interagency Fire Center report.

The Little Giant fire is burning across the Columbia River from where the Chelan Hills wildfire killed one resident and ravaged Orondo, an unincorporated Douglas County community, earlier this summer.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a statewide state of emergency on Aug. 1 because of drought conditions and unusually hot and windy weather, banning most outdoor burning statewide through Sept. 30.