Wildfires consuming more than a quarter of a million acres in Washington state prompted mass evacuations and widespread power outages in and around Spokane as officials reported Saturday evening, underscoring the strain on firefighting resources and essential services.
State Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove said during a virtual briefing that roughly 4,000 personnel were engaged in combating more than a dozen active fires across the state. Governor Bob Ferguson announced a statewide emergency declaration and implemented a burn ban on Saturday morning. At the time of the briefing, officials reported no known injuries or fatalities related to the fires.
Spokane, a city of approximately 230,000 residents located in eastern Washington, faced significant disruption from the Old Trails Fire. Washington State Forester George Geissler said that the Old Trails Fire was active on about 3,000 acres and was threatening roughly 4,000 structures. In response, city officials ordered evacuations for some major facilities, including a water reclamation plant, a waste-energy facility and the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital.
Mayor Lisa Brown noted that, as of 3:30 p.m. local time (2230 GMT), about 200 homes had been evacuated in Spokane, while cautioning that the number was likely to rise. "These are large areas of the city, so I assume it’s going to be more than that," she said.
Electric utility Avista, which serves eastern Washington, reported substantial service interruptions. Stacey McClain of the Washington State Emergency Management Division said approximately 60,000 customers were without power in the area.
Governor Ferguson emphasized the difficulty of combatting the blazes given the forecast of high winds and elevated temperatures over the weekend, conditions he said would complicate suppression efforts. Upthegrove said that, for the season to date, about 450,000 acres had burned in Washington state and described the current situation as abnormal, noting multiple fires raging statewide.
Geissler identified the Spokane blaze as one of five "major complex fires" in the state and said the largest of them, the Kaiser Canyon Fire in the northeastern portion of Washington, covered roughly 134,000 acres.
Officials also pointed to recent conditions that have contributed to regional fire activity. Last month, nearly 34,000 lightning strikes helped spark a series of blazes and evacuation orders in southern British Columbia. In response to the unfolding emergency, the National Guard was mobilized and firefighters from more than a dozen other states were assisting local crews.
Major General Gent Welsh, adjutant general of the Washington National Guard, described the scenes unfolding in the state as tragic and warned that the full scale of damage may become clearer at daybreak. "When the sun sets and the sun rises in the morning, I think we’re going to be in shock to see some of the scenes that emerged out there," he said.
This is an ongoing event. Officials continue to monitor fire behavior, evacuation orders and utility restorations as resources remain stretched across multiple large incidents.