Wildfires burning through the hills and pine forests around Spokane have destroyed more than 900 structures and forced upward of 67,000 people from their homes — roughly a tenth of the metro area's population — in one of the most destructive urban-adjacent fire events of a wildfire season already testing the Pacific Northwest.
Three fires collectively known as the Spokane Area Fires — the Old Trails, Autumn Lane and Fairview fires — have burned nearly 10,000 acres since breaking out over the weekend of Aug. 1. As of Monday, Spokane County officials reported the Autumn Lane Fire was 73 percent contained and the Old Trails and Fairview fires were each 53 percent contained, with an estimated 921 buildings destroyed or damaged. Firefighting crews and equipment from more than 20 states and 100 jurisdictions have joined the response, and Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels this week began downgrading Level 3 "go now" evacuation orders across much of the burn area, allowing many residents to return home under Level 2 "be set" status.
Investigators have charged Aaron Farinacci, 37, with first-degree arson in connection with the Old Trails Fire, the most destructive of the three blazes. Fire officials caution, however, that arson is not the story of the season regionally: the National Interagency Fire Center's August outlook points to lightning as the dominant driver of new ignitions across eastern Washington and Oregon, where dry fuels and persistent drought have primed the landscape to burn on contact with a strike.
A record-breaking season
The Spokane fires are unfolding against the backdrop of one of the worst U.S. fire seasons in years. Oregon alone has already burned more than 2 million acres in 2026, breaking its all-time annual record just three days into August with roughly two months of fire season still ahead, according to state fire officials. Nationally, AccuWeather's seasonal forecast projects 5.5 million to 8 million acres will burn before the year is out, with the heaviest risk concentrated in the Southwest, the Great Basin, the Rockies and the Northwest — the same corridor now absorbing the Spokane fires.
Returning residents have been urged to take precautions even in downgraded zones. The city of Spokane advised people going back to fire-affected neighborhoods to wear protective masks, long sleeves, gloves and eyewear because of ash and unstable debris. Utility crews are still working to restore power in several neighborhoods, and officials have warned that hot, dry conditions forecast for the coming days could slow further containment gains.
With the region still deep in what forecasters call an "above normal" significant-fire-potential window through September, officials said Spokane's fires — however much ground crews have gained — are unlikely to be the last major blaze to test the Inland Northwest before the season turns.
