Skip to content
Thousands of people under evacuation order from wildfires in Spokane, Wash.
Large numbers of residents in the city of Spokane have been told to urgently evacuate their homes due to rapidly moving wildfires in eastern Washington state. There are three larger and fast-moving fires in and around the city, with the biggest threat coming from the Old Trails Fire. That fire started on Saturday afternoon local time and had burned over 3,500 acres by early Sunday morning. Swaths of Spokane are under Level 3 evacuation orders, which read: 'Leave NOW! This may be your only notice.' Late Saturday night, the Washington National Guard was mobilized to assist local first responders. Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a statewide wildfire emergency and statewide burn ban Saturday. 'Our record-setting drought and high winds are creating dangerous conditions across the state.' 'I'm urging all Washingtonians to not be that spark.' So far this year, more than 1,000 fires have burned approximately 425,000 acres in Washington state - the most since 2021, according to the Department of Natural Resources.