A storied Washington city is under a state of emergency due to rapidly spreading wildfires, which as of this writing had not reached any containment.
SPOKANE — Three wildfires on the edge of Spokane exploded into massive conflagrations over the weekend, forcing more than 60,000 people from their homes and scorching about 700 structures, catapulting the disaster into one of the most destructive in Washington’s history.
Thousands of people remained without power and those who have been pushed out of their homes must find new places to stay as the Autumn Lane, Fairview and Old Trails fires raged across an estimated 8,000 acres, or 12 square miles, on the northern edges of the county.
“So to the people suffering right now, either loss or uncertainty, our hearts go out to you,” Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown said at a news conference Sunday afternoon. “We will be here for the long term.”
For those unfamiliar, #Spokane is not just some small town being devastated by wildfires. It's a city of over 240,000, in a metro of over 600,000. Second largest city in Washington state. Quite a few communities in the metro have been burned. #WAwx
— Craig Ceecee, Ph.D. (@CC_StormWatch) August 2, 2026
The wildfire started on Saturday, the first one reportedly from vegetation. Spokane District 3 Chief Cody Rohrbach said that this one fire spread within minutes and developed into two raging infernos in large part due to high winds that spewed embers. The initial two fires jumped across the Spokane River, and in a matter of hours, a third fire roared through a suburban district, forcing evacuations. The fire has destroyed houses and left damaged structures in its wake.
Gov. Bob Ferguson said he spoke Sunday to President Donald Trump, who “expressed his concern for the people of Washington during this difficult time.”
Collectively titled the "Spokane Complex Fires," Spokane is now under a state of emergency, as the cause of the fires is still being investigated. Firefighters throughout the state and country have been activated to the state, to assist in beating back the flames by all means available: Airplanes and helicopters do water and chemical drops, or bring more resources to combat the ravenous blaze.
Massive flames race alongside a roadway as the Spokane Complex Fire tears through eastern Washington, forcing tens of thousands to evacuate.
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 3, 2026
The fast-moving fire is made up of the Old Trails, Fairview and Autumn Lane fires and has burned more than 8,000 acres with 0% containment… pic.twitter.com/ln3Gsuk0vP
Massive flames race alongside a roadway as the Spokane Complex Fire tears through eastern Washington, forcing tens of thousands to evacuate.
The fast-moving fire is made up of the Old Trails, Fairview and Autumn Lane fires and has burned more than 8,000 acres with 0% containment as of Monday.
Officials say more than 600 structures across Spokane County have already been destroyed as crews continue battling the blaze.
Prayers that the firefighters manage to contain this out-of-control event. However, it is curious that in July of 2025, there were 15 small fires that happened in Spokane, set under suspicious circumstances, that were within the same region as the genesis of this 2026 fire.
Law enforcement is investigating a surge of suspicious fires reported throughout Spokane over the past few days.
According to the Spokane Fire Department, the first of the 15 fires was reported just after midnight on July 8 in front of the Red Wagon in Riverfront Park. Crews arrive to find a scorched landscaping bush.
A month later, in August 2025, a woman was arrested for setting several fires, also in similar regions as the July 2025 fires and the current Spokane Complex Fire.
A woman was arrested for suspected arson after allegedly setting multiple brush fires along the Centennial Trail in Spokane Valley on Saturday.
The Spokane County Sheriff's Office (SCSO) says deputies responded to the area of East Dalton Avenue and North Woodruff Road around 7 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2, to assist firefighters with a brush fire near the Spokane River.
The Spokane Valley Fire Department says firefighters found between 11 and 16 small fires threatening nearby structures, but were able to contain the fires and stop forward progress by 8 a.m.
Then, SCSO says at about 11:50 a.m., deputies again responded to the area of the Centennial Trail, northeast of Coyote Rock Drive, for another brush fire.
In May 2026, a man pled guilty to those first 15 fires, but was anyone concerned that there may have been something larger at play here?
Similar to the causes of fires in California, Independent journalist Kevin Dahlgren is investigating whether homeless encampments are at the root.
I had just spent several days in Spokane, Washington documenting the homelessness crisis when parts of the city began to burn. Multiple people told me they believed the fires could be related to homeless encampments in the pic.twitter.com/fm9N3nKjrL
— Kevin Dahlgren 🥾 🥾 (@kevinvdahlgren) August 3, 2026
Also similar to California, Spokane is rife with the causes that encourage homelessness, criminal behavior, and the delusion of thinking it is your manifest right to destroy property which you did not build and which does not belong to you.
Spokane's issues are caused by 5 major factors (and a lot of little ones).
— Common Sense Constitutionalist (@maelstrom069) August 3, 2026
1. Cost of living in Spokane is cheaper than Seattle/Tacoma. That means that everyone who is living on a state check tends to migrate to Spokane.
2. WA has been raising minimum wage every year for years… https://t.co/B9AQNfPbgq
Spokane's issues are caused by 5 major factors (and a lot of little ones).
1. Cost of living in Spokane is cheaper than Seattle/Tacoma. That means that everyone who is living on a state check tends to migrate to Spokane.
2. WA has been raising minimum wage every year for years now. When minimum wage goes up, then costs of good and services goes up. When that goes up, rent goes up. then people want more money. And around the vicious circle you go.
3. WA made Spokane the sponsored city for the SECOND CHANCE program (thanks to Catholic Charities). So that means that everyone getting out of prison in WA and joining the second chance program is going to Spokane. Combine that with #1 and you get:
4. More mentally ill/disabled/criminals than most of the rest of the state. meaning more drugs (legal and illegal).
5. Spokane is a SANCTUARY CITY. Now with all of the mentally infirm and criminal element, you have the illegals who did not respect our country to begin with living there.
With all of this, is this really a surprise?
Finally, similar to California, there is no curiosity to investigate these patterns. The reason for this rolling disaster is due to drought and climate change, and anyone saying otherwise is just a conspiracy theorist and science denier.
Though wildfires are often associated with the West Coast’s dry summers, climate change is putting more and more places at risk of wildfires as increasingly hot air sucks moisture from forests.
Rinse. Repeat. Move along, nothing to see here.
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