About 65,000 people have been evacuated in and around Spokane after three wildfires broke out Saturday and moved rapidly through neighborhoods on the city’s western edge. The fires, designated collectively as the Spokane Complex Fire, had burned 8,026 acres at zero percent containment as of Monday. Mayor Lisa Brown has declared it the worst natural disaster in the region’s history.
Officials confirmed at least 600 structures destroyed, with Spokane County Fire District 3 Chief Cody Rohrbach saying Monday that 640 were lost in the Old Trails Fire alone. How many were homes, businesses or schools has not been determined. No deaths or serious injuries have been reported, an outcome incident commander Tom Clemo attributed to how quickly tens of thousands of residents were moved.
Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a statewide emergency Saturday, spoke with President Trump, and requested immediate FEMA assistance. The National Guard has been deployed. Shelters are open across Washington, including the Spokane Convention Center, and Spokane Public Schools opened an emergency drop-in camp for children Monday. County court trials were postponed to the week of August 10.
Cooler temperatures and lighter winds arrived Monday, and officials said the shift should let crews make meaningful progress. The cause remains under investigation. Brown cautioned that it is unclear when most evacuees can return, saying it could be a week or considerably longer, and officials stressed that the danger has not passed and the full accounting of what was lost is only beginning.
