Sinlahekin Fire

Okanogan County, Washington · Wildfire

No longer active Official numbers updated Oct 15, 2026 (9 days ago)

First reported about 3 months ago

Metric	Last report	Now	Change
Size	166,005 acres Sep 22, 8:00 PM	166,007 acres Oct 25, 12:00 AM +2 acres was 166,005 acres · Sep 22, 8:00 PM	+2 acres in about 1 month
Containment	99% Oct 15, 4:00 PM	100% Oct 25, 12:00 AM +1 percent was 99% · Oct 15, 4:00 PM	+1 percent in 9 days
Crew size	183 Oct 6, 8:00 PM	122 Oct 25, 12:00 AM −61 was 183 · Oct 6, 8:00 PM	−61 in 18 days
Money spent	$151.3M Oct 6, 8:00 PM	$152.0M Oct 25, 12:00 AM +$697,725 was $151.3M · Oct 6, 8:00 PM	+$697,725 in 18 days

Sinlahekin Fire summary

The Sinlahekin Fire is a wildfire near Okanogan County, Washington. It has burned about 166,007 acres (about 126,000 football fields). Crews have it fully contained, with a line all the way around it. It was first reported about 3 months ago. About 122 people are on it, run by a Type 4 IC.

Size: 166,007 acres
Containment: 100%
Discovered: July 26, 2026 (first reported about 3 months ago)
Cause: Not reported

The size and containment above are current as of Tuesday, October 20th at 5:00 p.m. CDT.

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Weather & fire-spread conditions

No Red Flag Warning. The National Weather Service hasn't flagged this area for dangerous fire-spread conditions right now.

Hot, dry, and windy weather can help a fire grow; cool, calm, or wet weather helps crews. The tags below rate each day for fire spread — green is calm, red can push a fire.

A general fire-weather guide (wind matters most, then how dry it is, then heat), not a prediction of what a specific fire will do.

	Day	Night
This Afternoon	59°F · Sunny Wind 5 mph N · 0% rain Wind: Calm Heat: Cool Dry	40°F · Mostly Clear Wind 5 mph NW · 0% rain Wind: Calm Heat: Cool Dry
Wednesday	61°F · Sunny Wind 3 to 7 mph S · 0% rain Wind: Calm Heat: Cool Dry	41°F · Partly Cloudy Wind 5 mph W · 0% rain Wind: Calm Heat: Cool Dry
Thursday	60°F · Mostly Sunny Wind 3 mph NE · 3% rain Wind: Calm Heat: Cool Dry	—

Forecast from the National Weather Service (weather.gov), pulled Tuesday, October 20th at 5:01 p.m. CDT.

Could this fire move fast?

Weather isn't the only thing that changes how a fire moves. The ground matters too: how steep it is, and what's growing on it. These four numbers are for the exact spot where this fire started, not the whole fire. A big fire crosses a lot of different ground.

36° slope

Fire usually moves faster uphill than downhill. Heat and flame lean uphill, drying out the ground above the fire before it gets there.

Shrub (SH2)

Shrubs and dead shrub litter, about a foot deep, no grass. Fire moves slow, with short flames.

35% tree canopy cover

The more tree cover above a fire, the easier it is for the fire to climb from the ground into the treetops. That's called a crown fire. Crown fires move faster, throw embers farther ahead of the fire, and are harder for crews to stop head-on.

2,291 ft elevation

Elevation by itself doesn't make a fire more or less dangerous. But it shapes the other three numbers here: what grows there, how dry things get, and what the weather does.

Elevation and slope from the USGS 3D Elevation Program; fuel type and canopy cover from LANDFIRE (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), pulled Thursday, September 10th at 3:46 p.m. CDT.

Who's on it

About 122 people are assigned to this fire, run by a Type 4 IC. The government rates it a Type 5 Incident. About $152 million has been spent on it so far.

The official feed reports the total headcount, not a breakdown by crew type.

Where to get live updates

We show the daily official picture. For minute-by-minute updates, evacuation orders, and maps, these do it best:

→ Watch Duty: real-time fire reporting and evacuations.
→ InciWeb: the government's official fire information site.

Nearby fires to Sinlahekin Fire

No other active fires are near this one right now. It's on its own.

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