Spokane wildfires destroy 700 buildings, force 60,000 to evacuate

More than 700 buildings in the Spokane area had been destroyed Monday, with another 400 still awaiting assessment as three wildfires burned across the county and at least 60,000 people were ordered to evacuate or forced from their homes.

The fires had burned more than 7,700 acres by Sunday night and remained at 0% containment, fueled by high winds, hot, dry weather and no rain in the immediate forecast. Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown said nearly half of the city’s neighborhoods had either been evacuated or were at risk of being in the fires’ path, and she called it “the worst natural disaster our region has faced.”

The destruction stretched across Spokane County, where officials said hundreds of homes and other structures had been lost. No deaths had been confirmed in the early coverage, and no injuries had been confirmed, but officials said the full scale of the damage would take time to assess. The uncertainty leaves hundreds of displaced residents waiting on a basic next step after total loss: knowing whether their homes, businesses or schools survived at all.

Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a statewide wildfire emergency and imposed a burn ban through Sept. 30, 2026, while Spokane County commissioners declared a county state of emergency. Ferguson traveled to Spokane on Sunday afternoon to meet with first responders and monitor the crisis, then formally requested a federal emergency declaration as the fires spread.

The region’s utility system was hit as well. Avista’s outage map showed 20,268 affected customers out of 432,546 served customers on Aug. 1, after the company warned July 30 that some customers could face a Public Safety Power Shutoff because the National Weather Service was forecasting critical to extreme fire weather starting Aug. 1. Power was later restored for most customers, but the outages added another layer of disruption for people already dealing with evacuation, smoke and the loss of housing.

An evacuation shelter opened at the Spokane Convention Center as crews and officials worked through the immediate response. For people in Spokane, Airway Heights, West Plains, Nine Mile Falls and other threatened areas, the next phase will hinge on damage assessments, emergency aid and the long process of rebuilding after a fire season that exposed how quickly growth and emergency planning can be overwhelmed.