Wildfires devastated eastern Washington on Saturday, August 2, 2026, leading to the destruction of approximately 600 to 700 structures, including homes and businesses, and prompting the evacuation of roughly 5,000 to 65,000 residents in and around Spokane, the state's second-largest city. The blazes, consisting of three main fires in the Spokane area—the Old Trails Fire, Fairview Fire, and Meadowview Fire—burned over 8.2 square miles (21 square kilometers). Authorities set up a shelter at Spokane's main convention center for evacuees, which included patients from the U.S. Veterans Affairs hospital.
The fires were driven by strong winds and high temperatures, conditions that the National Weather Service had warned about with a "particularly dangerous situation" red flag alert, a step above a red flag warning. Washington Governor Bob Ferguson declared a statewide wildfire emergency and imposed a burn ban on Saturday. Despite the widespread destruction, as of Sunday morning, no deaths or injuries had been officially reported, though Spokane County Fire District 3 Chief Cody Rohrbach anticipated that would change.
Firefighting efforts were severely strained, with state and federal resources spread thin across the Western U.S., where dozens of fires were burning. Officials noted that no fire department could handle a wind-driven event of this magnitude. Courtney James, a spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources, indicated that approximately 425,000 acres had already burned in Washington this year, with August typically being the state's driest month, further exacerbating fire risks. California Interagency Incident Management Team 7 took command of the Spokane fires, which were declared the No. 1 wildfire fighting priority in the country.
