Key Facts
- Little Giant fire size
- More than 38,500 acres (15,600 hectares)
- Little Giant containment
- Zero percent contained
- Spokane Area fires size (Aug 2)
- Around 5,400 acres (2,200 hectares)
- Spokane Area fires size (Aug 3)
- More than 8,000 acres
- Structures destroyed or damaged
- More than 600
- Fires since start of year
- More than 1,000 fires, about 425,000 acres burned
Background
The start of August 2026 saw ongoing and new wildland fires burning in eastern Washington. West of Chelan, the Little Giant fire continued to produce heavy smoke, while a cluster of smaller fires farther east near Spokane affected tens of thousands of people.
The smoke from these and other fires poured east-northeast across the state and into Idaho, Montana, and several Canadian provinces on the morning of August 2, 2026, when NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image.
Current Situation
At that time, the Little Giant fire had burned more than 38,500 acres (15,600 hectares) and was zero percent contained, according to the fire’s incident management team. After lightning ignited the fire on July 15, gusting winds drove the blaze east to Lake Chelan, with spotting reaching the opposite side of the lake.
Smoke from the fire was expected to cause unhealthy to very unhealthy air quality in Chelan to the east and unhealthy conditions in Leavenworth and Wenatchee to the south, according to a smoke outlook issued by the U.S. Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program.
Meanwhile, the Spokane Area fires—which include the Old Trails fire, Fairview fire, and Autumn Lane fire—had burned around 5,400 acres (2,200 hectares) since igniting the day before. By the morning of August 3, that number had grown to more than 8,000 acres, according to InciWeb.
| Fire | Acres burned | Containment |
|---|---|---|
| Little Giant fire | More than 38,500 acres (15,600 hectares) | Zero percent |
| Spokane Area fires (Aug 2) | Around 5,400 acres (2,200 hectares) | Not specified |
| Spokane Area fires (Aug 3) | More than 8,000 acres | Not specified |
Impacts
Preliminary reports indicated more than 600 structures had been destroyed or damaged, and mandatory evacuation orders were in place for parts of Spokane County and Stevens County. Widespread smoke from these and the other fires in the state combined to produce very unhealthy air quality in parts of the two counties.
These fires were part of an active fire season fueled by persistent drought and extreme fire weather. Strong winds, high temperatures, and dry fuels led the National Weather Service to issue Washington’s first-ever “particularly dangerous situation alert” on July 31, a designation typically reserved for the most severe fire conditions.
Drought—declared in the state following a warm winter and low snowpack—left vegetation primed to burn. By the start of August, those conditions had helped fuel more than 1,000 fires that burned about 425,000 acres since the start of the year, the most since 2021, according to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. Of those, 12 large fires remained active, together accounting for more than 200,000 acres burned.
Future Outlook
Scenario analysis: The possibilities below are not certain predictions.
The NASA Disasters Program has been activated to support agencies responding to the fires. The team will be posting maps and data products on its open-access mapping portal as new information becomes available.
If the fires continue to spread under persistent drought and extreme fire weather, air quality may remain unhealthy or very unhealthy in affected areas, and additional evacuations could be necessary. If containment efforts succeed, the situation may gradually improve, but the outlook depends on weather conditions and fire behavior.
The full extent of structural damage and the long-term recovery timeline remain unclear, as preliminary reports are still being assessed.
Source: NASA
