Fast-moving wildfires have leveled more than 600 structures across Washington's second-largest city, forcing some 60,000 people from their homes, and officials warn the danger is far from over.
Three separate fires tore through the Spokane area over the weekend, driven by high winds and soaring temperatures that turned eastern Washington into a furnace. By Sunday evening, roughly 12 square miles had burned. Not a single one of the blazes had reached any level of containment. Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown called the disaster "the worst natural disaster our region has faced." She added that officials were "still assessing the potential for lives to be lost."
No deaths had been reported as of Sunday night. But the sheer scale of the destruction, whole neighborhoods reduced to ash, tens of thousands displaced, and a utility grid crippled, left officials reaching for comparisons to the fires that devastated the Los Angeles area the year before.
The three named fires, the Autumn Lane Fire, the Old Trails Fire, and the Fairview Fire, were burning simultaneously across the Spokane area. The Old Trails Fire broke out Saturday. Fox News reported the Autumn Lane Fire had consumed 3,333 acres, the Old Trails Fire 3,481 acres, and the Fairview Fire 914 acres, all at zero percent containment. More than 900 firefighters and support personnel had been deployed across the three blazes.
Benjamin Cossel, a spokesperson for the California Interagency Incident Management Team 7 brought in to assist, identified the Autumn Lane Fire as the top priority. He told CBS News it had "the most potential to just kind of get out and go wild, like, truly go wild." By Sunday night, the forward progress of the Fairview Fire had stopped, and Cossel said the "major danger" of the Old Trails Fire had passed. But the Autumn Lane Fire remained a threat.
Cossel did not sugarcoat the comparison. He said what firefighters were seeing on the ground matched the scale of the Eaton and Palisades fires that struck the Los Angeles area last year:
"What we're hearing... at scale, is this is at the same level of a Altadena Eaton Fire or a Palisades sort of event."
He confirmed more than 600 structures had been destroyed and said that number would almost certainly climb as crews reached areas too hot to enter. It remained unclear Sunday night how many of those structures were homes versus businesses, but Cossel said he believed whole communities and neighborhoods had been wiped out.
Roughly 60,000 people were evacuated across the Spokane area. AP News reported that evacuees included patients at a VA hospital, and about 400 people were sheltering at the city's convention center. Washington's second-largest city, home to about 229,000 residents, had never seen anything like it.
Joe Cvancara, a Spokane homeowner, told CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave that he saved his house from the Fairview Fire by digging around its perimeter. His neighborhood was not so lucky. Only six of the 15 homes around his survived. Cvancara described a scene of near-panic as the fire closed in:
"It came so fast that my daughter was home. And we said, go upstairs, go to the top bookshelf, grab all the family photos and get out. And as they were grabbing literally a suitcase full of photos, you know, photo albums, the policeman pounded on the door, the sheriff's department pounded on the door and said, 'Get out.' And so they left."
Cvancara said he felt "very, very grateful" but carried something close to survivor's guilt, knowing nine of his neighbors' homes were gone. His account captures the speed and ferocity of these fires, families had minutes, not hours, to decide what mattered most.
Wildfires have become a growing crisis across the American West and beyond. Minnesota recently activated its National Guard to fight spreading wildfires in that state, part of a broader pattern of fire emergencies straining resources from coast to coast.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a state of emergency Saturday after the fires exploded under extreme heat and wind. At a Saturday press conference, he described conditions as "extremely dynamic, especially in Spokane." By Sunday, the tone had shifted from dynamic to devastating. Ferguson spoke at a news conference and did not try to minimize the loss:
"There are just so many Washingtonians who have literally lost everything in a very, very short period of time. Just in a matter of hours, their lives changed in deeply dramatic and fundamental ways. And so it's difficult to find words when folks have experienced a loss like that."
Ferguson said he had spoken directly with President Trump and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin about the crisis. In a post on the official Washington State Government Facebook page, Ferguson said they "will be working together on additional requests for federal assistance." He requested a federal emergency declaration and expressed optimism about a quick approval, citing recent flood relief approvals as a positive sign.
"I deeply appreciate the President taking time to have this conversation, and I am optimistic we will receive a quick approval for our request for a federal emergency declaration," Ferguson said. He added: "We're here for the long haul."
FEMA authorized federal funds Sunday to help fight three of the fires: the Sinlahekin Fire, the Fairview Fire, and the Autumn Lane Fire. Whether the broader federal emergency declaration Ferguson requested had been approved remained unclear as of Sunday evening.
The coordination between a Democratic governor and the Trump administration on disaster relief stands in contrast to the political friction that has surrounded other federal-state interactions. Earlier this year, Trump proposed charging Canada for wildfire smoke drifting across the border, a move that drew bipartisan pushback in the Senate.
Avista, the regional power company, implemented public safety power shutoffs due to the elevated fire risk. Those shutoffs had been restored by Sunday, but the damage was done. At peak, more than 30,000 customers lost power. By Sunday evening, about 10,000 remained in the dark.
Avista CEO Heather Rosentrater said utility crews still could not access many affected areas because of ongoing blazes and evacuation orders. She warned that additional customers could lose power during peak energy hours because of diminished capacity. Rosentrater also stated she did not believe the company's facilities were involved in igniting any of the Spokane-area fires. The cause of the blazes remained under investigation, with the investigating agency not publicly identified.
Air quality warnings were issued across the region. Washington Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove called it "an extraordinary fire season in the Pacific Northwest" and said roughly 4,000 people were involved in firefighting efforts statewide.
Fire officials posted on Facebook that cooler temperatures were expected Monday and Tuesday. But the reprieve looked short-lived. Later in the week, officials warned, "temperatures will rise into the mid to high-90's with relative humidity in the lower teens", conditions Cossel described as "a recipe for extreme fire behavior."
Rep. Michael Baumgartner, who represents Washington's 5th Congressional District covering the Spokane area, echoed the concern Sunday: "It doesn't look like the weather is getting much better for the next few days. Everyone needs to stay alert."
Courtney James, a spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, urged residents to take evacuation orders seriously: "We urge residents of Spokane to heed evacuation orders and to stay alert to changing conditions and evacuations as they are rapidly changing."
The Spokane fires are part of a wider regional crisis. Breitbart reported that a separate fire burning across western Idaho and eastern Oregon had consumed nearly 525 square miles over 10 days, threatening more than 600 homes and 800 other structures. Keila Vizcarra, a spokesperson for the federal team handling that blaze, said plainly: "The whole northwest is heavily impacted right now." U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell warned: "We are not out of danger. The next couple of days will be challenging."
Extreme weather events have battered communities worldwide this year. Europe's record heatwave killed more than 1,300 people in recent weeks, and two firefighting helicopters collided over a Greek wildfire as blazes swept the continent, a grim reminder that fire seasons are growing longer and more destructive on both sides of the Atlantic.
Several critical questions remain unanswered. How many of the 600-plus destroyed structures were family homes? Are there confirmed injuries beyond the zero reported deaths? Which agency is investigating the cause? And will the federal emergency declaration Ferguson requested arrive fast enough to matter?
What is clear is the scale. More than 600 structures gone. Sixty thousand people displaced. A city's power grid hobbled. Three fires still burning with zero containment. And a forecast that promises only a brief break before the heat returns.
The families who lost everything in Spokane did not lose it to some slow-moving bureaucratic failure they could see coming. They lost it in hours. The federal government, the state, and every agency with a role to play owe them speed that matches the fire's own.
