Single Publication

Quick Facts

Size:  36,970 acres          Start Date: June 8, 2024          Location: 31 miles northwest of Chelan, WA      Containment: 13%          Personnel: 653          Cause:  Human-caused, under investigation

CURRENT SITUATION:  Scattered heat sources remain across the fire perimeter due to seasonally dry conditions and unburnt vegetation, particularly in the north end of the fire at Purple Creek and south to Prince Creek. Fire activity along the ridgeline between Imus and Purple Creek remains the most active with uphill spread as fire gets into dense pockets of trees. A persistent uplake wind will challenge firefighters as previously unseen alignments of fire, wind, and terrain may contribute to increased fire behavior.

TODAY’S ACTIVITIES:  Crews will focus their efforts constructing handlines around the Little Boulder Creek area to keep the fire south of the creek and prevent further movement into the community of Stehekin. Aviation assets will continue working in the area with water drops to cool and slow the fire in coordination with resources on the ground.

WEATHER AND SMOKE:  The weather through Friday will be warm and mostly dry over the next few days. Winds of 5 to 10 mph will move north up the lake for most of the day. There is a 10 percent chance for afternoon thunderstorms on Thursday increasing to 50 percent on Friday. Any storms impacting the fire will bring a threat of gusty outflow winds, heavy downpours, and lightning. 

Expect winds out of the east to scour the smoke and improve air quality across most of the communities east of the Pioneer and Easy fires in the morning. As winds shift to out of the northwest, they will bring light to moderate levels of smoke from regional fires to communities in the Okanogan Valley and Chelan area overnight. Stehekin will likely have light to moderate levels of smoke throughout most of the day and evening. 

EVACUATIONS: Level 1, 2 and 3 evacuation levels remain in effect around the Pioneer Fire. Please contact Chelan County Emergency Management or visit https://t.ly/QoH9w for more information.

FOREST CLOSURE: Closures for the North Cascades National Park: https://www.nps.gov/noca/index.htm

The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest has a closure order in place for much of the fire area: Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest - Alerts & Closures (usda.gov). Campfires are prohibited. There is a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) in place over the fire: https://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_4_6779.html. Unauthorized drone activity is prohibited under the TFR.