The Little Giant Fire jumped Lake Chelan this week, when wind carried a single ember roughly 2.5 miles across open water to ignite a new blaze on the far shore, and by Friday it had grown into Washington's third-largest wildfire of the year.
The incident management team's official infrared mapping, taken Friday morning, put the fire at 77,501 acres.
The five communities named in Friday's threat assessment sit at varying distances from the fire's edge.
The fire's cost has already reached roughly $18 million, a figure that will keep climbing as long as containment sits at 1% and crews remain in a defensive posture around threatened structures rather than an offensive one aimed at boxing in the perimeter.
Many people are still enjoying the outdoors.
The Little Giant Fire jumped Lake Chelan this week when wind carried a single ember 2.5 miles across the water. It now threatens 1,824 structures across five Chelan County towns and remains just 1% contained.