Chelan County Wildfires Stabilize As Firefighters Shift To Restoring Burned Landscapes

The acreage and containment levels on the Little Giant and Sisi wildfires in Chelan County remain unchanged.

The Little Giant Fire has remained at just under 173 thousand acres with 81% containment for more than a week.

On the west side of the fire, crews have focused on repair work and clearing debris flows in the Phelps Creek, Trinity, and Chiwawa River drainages.

On the east side, crews are doing repair work in the Shady Pass and Twenty-Five Mile Creek areas. Firefighters are repairing and rehabilitating areas around campgrounds and recreation areas. The work along Entiat River Road involves chipping trees and cleaning culverts and reducing the amount of tree stumps to create a more natural-looking landscape. Personnel on the southwest corner of the fire are now shifting to other areas of the perimeter to support the repair and stabilization projects.

The Beaver Hill Road improvement and repaving project on Chumstick Highway is now underway. To ensure the safety of workers and residents, a full road closure will be in effect at Beaver Hill for the duration of the project and as a precaution to avoid anyone getting trapped by a new fire. Motorists should plan to use detours on both ends of the closure. The work is expected to last until approximately three weeks, until mid-October. See the Chelan County Public Works website for more information.

Get our free mobile app

The Sisi Fire is estimated at 43 hundred acres with 15% contamination after it was started by lightning on August 14th.

Crews are still patrolling containment lines and monitoring fire movement, primarily in areas where th fire is expected to back down toward lines along the Stehekin River and Agnes Creek. Personnel are in position to take suppression measures if needed. Helicopters are still being used to keep the fire within its current footprint. As the actual firefighting operations transition into greater repair and rehab efforts, the resources no longer needed are being released and reassigned elsewhere on the fire or other incidents as needed.

Approximately 790 personnel are still assigned to both fires, comprised of 16 engines, 5 crews, 39 pieces of heavy equipment, 11 water tenders, and 5 helicopters