Frozen copy retrieved 2026-08-04T16:20:00Z for audit 2026-08-04T18-13-33Z. Original URL: https://katu.com/news/local/fires-destroy-hundreds-of-buildings-and-force-spokane-area-residents-to-evacuate. The Stochastic Parrot does not host or redistribute; this snapshot exists solely so that quoted spans remain verifiable if the original page changes. Character offsets below index into this plain text; highlighted spans are the quotes cited in the audit.

Fires destroy hundreds of buildings and force Spokane-area residents to evacuate

Associated Press · back to the audit

By Lindsey Wasson, Ed White and Gene Johnson - Associated Press (AP). Mon, August 3, 2026 at 8:12 PM; updated Mon, August 3, 2026 at 10:22 PM.

Some residents returned to devastated neighborhoods in eastern Washington state to find their homes leveled by wildfires.

"There's nothing to save," said Miriam Sim, 76, whose home had stood since 2005.

"Our house is done," Wayde Deatherage told his wife about their home of nearly 22 years.

"Hundreds of people have completely lost their homes and farms," the Washington congressional delegation wrote in its expedited-emergency-declaration request to President Trump.

"I'm emotionally numb," said Karen Faggioli, 61.

About 700 buildings destroyed, number expected to rise; roughly 67,000 under evacuation orders; fires burned about 12.5 square miles (32 sq km) by Monday; 0% contained; more than 1,000 firefighters on scene, expected to double, many from out of state; nearly 300 initial missing-person reports, all but 14 cleared by Monday; at least 390 square miles burned across Washington; about 400 people at the Spokane convention center shelter. A man arrested on first-degree arson charge in connection with the Old Trails Fire.