Firestorm Jumps River—City Scrambles

Firefighter with flashlight walking through a burning hallway — WILDFIRE ALERT

Wildfires roaring across eastern Washington have destroyed 600 homes and buildings and pushed roughly 60,000 people out of the Spokane area, marking one of the worst fire disasters the region has seen in years.

Story Snapshot

Fires near Spokane, including the fast-moving Old Trails Fire, have destroyed about 600 structures and forced tens of thousands to flee.
Governor Bob Ferguson declared a statewide emergency and burn ban as fires burned across more than 250,000 acres statewide.
The Old Trails Fire jumped the Spokane River, catching many residents off guard as it spread through neighborhoods.
The Washington National Guard mobilized for the first time this way, and the governor asked for federal disaster aid.

A Fire That Jumped A River And Caught A City Off Guard

The Old Trails Fire started around noon on a Saturday, burning brush and grass in an open area northwest of Spokane. Strong winds and high heat turned it into a monster fast. It jumped the Spokane River, something firefighters hoped would slow it down, and swept into neighborhoods, forcing thousands to evacuate with almost no warning.

Authorities later confirmed the fire was one of three burning in and around the city, all threatening homes at the same time. National Public Radio reported large numbers of Spokane residents got urgent evacuation orders as the fires moved quickly through dry grass and brush that had baked all summer under record heat.

The Numbers Behind The Disaster

By Sunday, officials said about 5,000 homes had been evacuated and roughly 600 homes, businesses, and other buildings had burned down. The fires had scorched more than 8 square miles around Spokane alone, and none of them were fully contained yet.

Social media posts and wire reports later put the total number of evacuees across the wider Spokane area at closer to 60,000 people, showing how fast the danger zone grew.

Statewide, the picture is even bigger. Wildfires have burned more than a quarter of a million acres across Washington, according to state officials, with about 4,000 firefighters battling more than a dozen separate blazes.

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources says more than 1,000 fires have sparked since January, torching roughly 425,000 acres, or more than 660 square miles, of forest, neighborhoods, and tribal land.

Ferguson Declares Emergency As Weather Turns Dangerous

Governor Ferguson declared a statewide emergency and a burn ban Saturday morning as the fire threat spiked. The move came alongside a rare warning from the National Weather Service, which called conditions across eastern Washington a “particularly dangerous situation,” its most serious fire weather alert, as powerful winds and high temperatures combined to spread flames fast.

Ferguson also said the Washington National Guard mobilized for wildfire response for the first time in this way, adding manpower to a firefighting effort already stretched thin across the state. He requested federal emergency aid as the Upriver Fire in Spokane Valley destroyed multiple homes on its own, separate from the Old Trails Fire closer to the city.

A Pattern Playing Out Across A Dry, Windy Summer

This is not an isolated event. Fires like the Kaiser Canyon Fire on the Colville Reservation had already burned past 100,000 acres weeks earlier, and other blazes such as Lyons Ferry, Devil’s Canyon, and Neff Jones had charred tens of thousands more acres across the region through June and July. Eastern Washington has faced a stacked series of major fires all season, not a single sudden outbreak.

That pattern matters for anyone judging how officials responded. Emergency declarations, evacuation orders, and structure counts update constantly as incident teams get better information, so early numbers often shift as crews finish damage assessments.

Families should treat initial reports as the start of an evolving picture, not the final word, while state and local agencies work to confirm the full scope of what has been lost.

For now, the human toll is what stands out. Tens of thousands of people spent recent nights unsure if their homes would still be standing by morning.

Firefighters are stretched across a dozen-plus active blazes with no containment in sight for the worst of them. Washington residents deserve straight answers and fast federal support, not bureaucratic delay, as this fire season keeps testing the state’s limits.

Wildfires in eastern Washington state forced the evacuation of 60,000 people in the Spokane area while destroying at least 600 homes, businesses and other structures, authorities said Sunday. pic.twitter.com/WNF2EgaIxE

— The Associated Press (@AP) August 3, 2026

Smoke continues to blanket the region, air quality has turned hazardous in parts of eastern Washington, and forecasters warn conditions could stay volatile through August. Residents near Spokane are being told to watch evacuation levels closely and act fast if orders come, since these fires have already proven how quickly calm can turn to crisis.