CHELAN HILLS Fire (WA)
True color
Fire (SWIR)
Infrared / SWIR (right): sees through smoke.
🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 red/brown = burned
🟠 orange = active fire
Imagery: Sentinel-2 (Copernicus). Drag to compare smoke vs. infrared.
Heat detections: NASA FIRMS (last 48h).
Quick facts
- Location
- 1 Miles N from Orondo, WA
- Cause
- Human
- Personnel
- 100
- Complexity
- Type 3 Incident
- Fuel
- Short Grass (1 foot)
- Behavior
- Minimal, Smoldering, Short-range Spotting
- Jurisdiction
- Private land
Over the course of its 12-day progression, the CHELAN HILLS Fire near Orondo, Washington, expanded at an average rate of approximately 822 acres per day, ultimately consuming 9,861 acres of private land. The blaze, which was ignited by human activity on July 4, 2026, has now been fully contained.
With a Type 3 incident management team overseeing the final stages of the response, current fire behavior is limited to minimal smoldering and occasional short-range spotting within the short grass fuel beds. A total of 100 personnel remain on-site to monitor the area, with suppression efforts totaling $4.2 million in costs.
In context
This wildfire burned in Washington for 45 days. In total it burned about 9,861 acres — around 40 km².
In the Northern Hemisphere, wildfire activity usually peaks during the warm, dry months — roughly May through October.
The bigger picture in United States
Across United States, roughly 3,021,962 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 45% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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Community reports
Reports from people near the fire · unverified
Not official emergency information. In an emergency, contact fire services/authorities.
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