South and north lake shore get priority fire fighting

Little Giant Fire evacuation advisory map, Aug. 4. Photo courtesy: Chelan County Sheriff's Emergency Management Department.

The south and north shore of Lake Chelan get the priority attention from firefighters Tuesday, as the Little Giant fire continues to smolder.

"We need time and resources," said Little Giant Fire Operations Chief Chris Litz at a community informational meeting Monday night in Entiat.

Litz showed on an enlarged map of the fire footprint that on the south shore of Lake Chelan firefighters are continuing to build protective dirt containment lines along the perimeter of the fire, "moving up the Entiat River and finding other ways to get it (fire protection lines) back over to the Lake Chelan area."

"We clear fuels away from the buildings, every house is just as important as everybody else. Everybody that stays in their home is another home that we have to send an engine to, or a crew to, or somebody to, to get them out," said Litz on the importance of residents adhering to evacuation advisories. "So if you get out early it allows us to get into there with a limited amount of resources and focus on other places that we can."

"This fire out here between the Entiat River and Lake Chelan is not one continuous firefront," said Fire Behavior Specialist Dennis Burns. "It's actually a bunch of spot fires. Eventually there are going to come together. Another thing about a fuels-driven fire, is I equate it to like a lava flow. It just keeps moving."

"We are going after it," added Chief Litz, when discussing the focus Tuesday on the north shore of the lake where a spot fire burns west of Manson. "We want to keep it as small as we can. We're building a plan to come over it on foot to get people (firefighters) on the edge of the fire to keep it small. Every chance the air is clear enough to drop (aerial water buckets) on it with helicopters and other water dropping aircraft we've been putting on there."

The fire’s footprint on the north shore is in rocky, steep terrain.

"We're going to continue to engage this fire," assured Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest Supervisor Tara Umphries. "We'll continue to leverage resources that are available to us."

Chelan Fire Chief Brandon Asher reported Monday that a strike team of local firefighters were sent to an area along 25-mile creek for fire suppression efforts to identify available water resources and to protect homes.

If conditions become smoky near you, the Washington State Department of Ecology recommends that you stay inside, shut windows and doors, and run an air purifier. If you must go outside, wear an N95 mask and stay hydrated.

Visit wa211.org to find clean air and extreme heat shelters near you. Check the WA Smoke Blog for smoke and air quality updates: wasmoke.blogspot.com.

Aerial view of wildfire smoke, Aug. 3. Photo courtesy: Washington State Department of Ecology.