(The Center Square) – Gov. Bob Ferguson said Monday that federal support is en route to Spokane, as roughly 1,000 personnel fight three fires, which he called among the worst in the history of the region.
Ferguson held a press conference on Monday morning with Mayor Lisa Brown and other state and local leaders to give an update on the Old Trails, Autumn Lane and Fairview Fires. Preliminary estimates put the total structures destroyed at 700, but fire officials said they still need to check about 1,100 areas.
Spokane Sheriff John Nowels said there weren’t any known or reported deaths as of Monday morning, but that emergency responders still need to resolve 14 of 290 welfare and evacuation assistance calls.
Gent Welsh, the adjutant general of the Washington National Guard, said he is on standby for support.
“I’ve been to a lot of places around the world, not so good places around the world, and I can tell you, that’s a war zone,” Welsh said during Monday’s media briefing. “Some of these folks may not recover.”
Nowels said detectives from multiple state and local agencies are investigating the cause of the fires.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency held a call with state officials this morning, but Ferguson said he hasn’t received word on when Washington could receive additional support for Spokane. FEMA has already approved federal assistance to reimburse Washington for 75% of eligible firefighting costs.
A morning situation report estimated the total was around $3.45 million across all three fires, but that doesn’t account for lost property value from hundreds of homes and structures destroyed so far.
Brown said it could be weeks before people can make their way home, if they are still standing at all.
“That doesn’t mean that we can give you an estimate; it could be a week, it could be weeks depending on where your home and property is,” she said, “and so we just are really asking people to be patient.”
Fire officials said about 67,000 people remain under evacuation, but not everyone has necessarily left.
Crews are collecting satellite imagery and going structure-by-structure to create a virtual map of what homes are destroyed. Still, preliminary estimates could vary in the days and weeks ahead.
Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove said 5,000 personnel are currently fighting 17 major fires statewide.
Ferguson stressed that FEMA isn’t waiting around and that resources are being moved into the state.
While FEMA has already approved some grants, the governor has requested an emergency declaration and direct assistance for rescue efforts, debris removal, medical, temporary shelter and other funding.
The pending requests cover Spokane, Stevens, Chelan, Okanogan, Yakima and Ferry counties, along with the Spokane, Colville and Yakama tribal nations. The three fires scorching the city of Spokane still had 0% reported containment as of this morning, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
“It’s really going to be a long-term process of recovery, but it’s already started,” Brown said Monday.