Spokane wildfire destroys hundreds of structures, forces mass evacuations

A wildfire northwest of downtown Spokane had damaged more than 600 structures by Sunday morning, while about 5,000 homes were evacuated across the Spokane Complex. The loss included homes, businesses and other buildings, and the damage tally was still shifting, with counts ranging from 640 structures destroyed to roughly 700 burned. That distinction matters because homes, businesses and outbuildings each carry a different recovery path for families, insurers and property owners.

The Old Trails fire pushed into neighborhoods off Indian Trail and into Riverside State Park as three fast-moving fires in the Spokane Complex burned across roughly 5,400 acres. Drought, heat and a rare fire warning helped the flames move quickly through dry fuel, leaving residents with little time to gather belongings and leave before the fire reached their streets.

The scale of destruction has already turned the emergency into a housing and recovery problem across Spokane County. When hundreds of structures are lost at once, the work is not limited to firefighting. It means insurance claims, debris removal, temporary shelter and the slow process of figuring out which losses were primary homes, which were businesses and which were secondary structures or outbuildings.

Governor Bob Ferguson declared a statewide wildfire emergency in Washington on August 2 and barred most outdoor and agricultural burning through September 30. The declaration came as Washington faced multiple fires at once, with local officials describing the situation as very serious and crews in Spokane racing to protect what remained in the fire’s path.

Spokane’s fire history carries its own warning. The Great Fire of 1889 destroyed Spokane Falls, and the latest losses again showed how quickly fire can erase housing and commercial buildings across a neighborhood, forcing residents to confront rebuilding on a scale that can reshape a community for years.