Wildfires tearing through eastern Washington have destroyed at least 600 homes, businesses and other structures and forced the evacuation of 60,000 people, with three major blazes still burning in and around Spokane, authorities said.
The fires in and around Spokane, the state's second-largest city, burned about 8.2 square miles over the weekend, with dozens of wildfires straining firefighting resources across the western United States. Investigators have yet to determine how the blazes started.
Fire and law enforcement officials said there had been no reports of injuries or people unaccounted for, though they stressed it was early in the response effort. Evacuees in Spokane included patients from a US Veterans Affairs hospital.
US Senator Maria Cantwell, speaking at a news conference with officials, said, "We are not out of danger," adding that the next few days would be difficult.
The three fires in the Spokane area were named the Old Trails Fire, the Fairview Fire and the Meadowview Fire, and Washington Governor Bob Ferguson declared a state of emergency, with the National Weather Service issuing a "particularly dangerous situation" red flag alert for eastern Washington.
Officials said high winds and steep, canyon-lined terrain around the Spokane River were making the fires harder to contain, multiple reports noted.
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A shelter was set up at Spokane's main convention centre, with about 400 people staying there, while Avista Corp, the region's power utility, said around 10,000 customers remained without electricity, down from a peak of 30,000.
Separately, a grassland fire spanning roughly 525 square miles has been burning for ten days across western Idaho and eastern Oregon, threatening cattle ranches and hundreds more structures.
Former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, who lost his home in the Los Angeles Palisades Fire earlier this year, offered sympathy and advice to Spokane residents in a post on X.
"Nothing can really prepare you for this devastation, and I wish I could tell you it'll get better, but it won't for a long time," he wrote, urging people to have an evacuation plan and "lean further into God."
My deepest sympathies to the folks in Spokane who just lost everything in an instant. *As of now*, I've not seen any reports of fatalities, thank God, and I pray they were none, but a lot of beloved pets undoubtedly perished, and for many, that's like losing family.
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) August 2, 2026
Nothing can…
The fires form part of what officials describe as Washington's worst wildfire season in more than three decades, with 15 major blazes having burned over 250,000 acres statewide.
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