‘When the sun rises, we are going to be in shock’: Thousands evacuated in north Spokane as wildfire crosses river into city

Walls of flames destroyed dozens of homes and other structures in the Indian Trail neighborhood and more areas of Spokane on Saturday amid one of the worst natural disasters in the city’s history.

Home after home caught fire and exploded into flames along with trees. Loud explosions could be heard through the smoke as the wildfire that started earlier in the afternoon on the West Plains continued to destroy much of what was in its path.

Winds gusting 35 to 45 mph drove the fire into Riverside State Park and then across the Spokane River. Mass evacuations were ordered for much of the city, from north of Francis Avenue and west of Division Street.

The fires, smoke and evacuations led to chaos across the northwest part of the city. Mayor Lisa Brown declared a state of emergency. Gov. Bob Ferguson activated the National Guard.

The scope of the fire remained unknown Saturday night – more than 9 hours after the fire was reported. City officials at a news conference Saturday night could not say if there were injuries.

The wind blew smoke and flames across North Indian Trail Road so quickly, firefighters were yelling at people nearby to run.

Major Gen. Gent Welsh, Washington’s adjutant general, said at a news conference that the fire conditions are the worst he’s seen in his 38-year career.

“When the sun sets and the sun rises, we are going to be in shock,” Welsh said.

Level 3 “go now” evacuation orders in the city were issued just before 3:30 p.m., affecting thousands of people within Spokane city limits. Those continued to expand through the afternoon and evening.

“I will tell you in a wind-driven event there is not a fire department in the U.S. that can handle a wind-driven event this size,” said Assistant Spokane Fire Chief Lance Dahl. He said the department usually has 69 firefighters working, but about 100 were on duty Saturday in preparation for the high winds. Spokane police and the Spokane Sheriff’s Office also boosted staffs.

The city of Spokane opened a fire evacuation center at the Spokane Convention Center, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd., after power was lost at an earlier evacuation center at Spokane Falls Community College.

Traffic and Spokane Transit Authority buses were arriving at the convention center Saturday night, while American Red Cross volunteers were hurrying to set up the center for medical relief. Buses of people from nursing homes and assisted living facilities were being unloaded.

The Spokane County Fair and Expo Center has areas open for people with RVs and also has room for people who need space for evacuated animals.

Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said those evacuated should prepare to be kept away from their homes and property for at least 24 to 36 hours.

Nowels and Brown stressed the importance of listening to first responders and evacuation notices as the fire danger will stretch further into the weekend.

“We’re still having way too many people refusing to evacuate,” Nowels said.

Dahl asked people not to turn their sprinklers on to stop the fire because water pressure had been affected.

“We’re already running into water issues in some of our water towers and our pumping capabilities because we’re using so much. We have so many in town needing water,” he said. “It’s putting a strain on the system.”

The Old Trails fire was reported to have grown to 3,509 acres by 8:20 p.m. according to the National Interagency Fire Center, pushed by wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph.

It was reportedly sparked near the Old Trails Road and Euclid Road area, though a cause of the fire has not been determined.

“This is an extraordinary fire season. This is not normal; this is unusual,” Washington Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove said at a joint news conference on the fire with Ferguson.

Upthegrove said all necessary resources are being assigned to help prevent loss of life and property.

“We’re going to do what it takes to keep this state safe,” Upthegrove said.

While homes could be seen burning in some areas, Mayor Brown said at the same news conference that it’s too early for numbers on losses.

“We’re not in a place right now where we can discuss the magnitude of the property destruction,” Brown said.

Nowels, red-faced and visibly tired, said Saturday night that the situation in the county is so dynamic that there had not been an opportunity to get an accurate count of structures or homes lost so far. He said he has heard estimates from fire chiefs that around 50 to 100 structures may have burned.

“Probably for the next 24 hours, we will still have conditions that are dangerous for these fires,” Nowels said.

Monica Opfer lives near Indian Trail Elementary School. She watched as the fire spread closer to her home, so close she could feel heat from the flames. She grabbed her dog, Mabel, and her medication.

“I think I lost my home,” she said after 8 p.m. “I don’t know where I’m going to go.”

People were seen running down North Indian Trail Road, attempting to get past police road blocks. One boy ran up to firefighters and asked them to check on his brother, who was in a house above where the fire was burning. Another woman screamed at firefighters to go save her husband and son with a disability, but she did not speak English. A family member found her crying on the side of the road and informed her they were safe.

Avista Utilities reported about 40,000 customers without power in the Spokane area, many as a preemptive measure across the city, including areas not within the evacuation area.

Spokesman David Vowels provided a statement from the utility company that said the Old Trails fire did not spark from the utility’s infrastructure, but that some parts were damaged in the fire.

One person seeking help was 19-year-old Kayla Sharp, her husband and her 6-month old baby. They arrived to the shelter at the convention center around 8:30 p.m., looking for a changing table.

Born in Spokane, Sharp said she’s used to wildfire season, but with a new baby, she couldn’t believe she was still holding it together.

“This one’s different because I have a child now,” Sharp said.

The blaze came as the National Weather Service on Friday issued a historic first warning for Eastern Washington of a “particularly dangerous situation,” which is a step up from the typical red flag warnings the agency issues on hot, dry and windy days.

Other fires started Saturday afternoon, including the 981-acre Fairview fire in the Peone Prairie area. It created another vast evacuation zone from Market Street to Forker Road between Mount Spokane Park Drive on the north to Orchard Road on the south.

Married couple Nancy and Darrell Wagner stood outside an earlier Red Cross evacuation center set up at the student athletic center at Spokane Falls Community College as their dog Fritz nervously yapped in the grass.

“We’ve never done this before,” said Darrell, 76.

The couple left their home in Indian Trail as quick as possible when they received the notice to evacuate. Other neighbors in the area said they’d seen nearby homes burn, so the couple grabbed their dog, not much else, and left.

“We’ve lived in that house for 31 years now,” Darrell said.

“Well, if it’s still standing,” added Nancy, 73.

Spokane County Commissioner Al French, who represents the West Plains and Indian Trail neighborhoods, said the damage left in the wake could be “tragic.”

“If you’re not in the path of the fires, reach out to friends, because a lot of folks are going to need a safe place to reside and hold up in until this risk goes away,” French said. “Be a good neighbor and help your neighbor.”

Nowels called in all deputies Saturday to assist with door-to-door evacuations, French said. Meanwhile, Chandra Fox, deputy director of emergency management for the county, is coordinating with the state Department of Natural Resources and other agencies to get more wildland firefighters.

Brown said city police also were rushing to help evacuated residents.

Among fire crews called in to help were some from the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department.

Flames and smoke were cascading over trees next to Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church, 3624 W. Indian Trail Road, at about 4:30 p.m.

Fire crews were on scene working to protect the school and church. Police were speeding north on North Indian Trail Road while residents were fleeing southbound. Some had to flee past already burning homes to make it down to the city safely.

By 7:30 p.m., homes around Indian Trail Elementary School were burning. The smoke had blotted out much of the sun.

Spokane Public Schools spokesman Ryan Lancaster said Saturday evening he was unsure the status of any of the district’s schools. Roads to the schools were closed, and the district’s cameras had outrun their backup power supply, so they had no eyes on those properties, he said.

The Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center evacuated patients and staff earlier Saturday afternoon. Some patients have been transferred to regional hospitals for care.

“You just get out so fast, you don’t even think, you’ve just got to get out,” said Crystal Harris, whose home is near the VA hospital, where she works as a social worker. “You see it and it’s terrifying, you’re just thinking, ‘Ahh, get my stuff.’ ”

Spokane City Councilwoman Kitty Klitzke, who represents Northwest Spokane, said Spokane Transit Authority buses assisted in evacuations at Mann-Grandstaff.

Earlier, residents at Spokane Health and Rehabilitation Home, 6025 N. Assembly St., were being evacuated as residents waited in the shade and grass for evacuation busses.

Whitworth University also was evacuated, said Trisha Coder, Whitworth spokeswoman. Various groups were making use of the university facilities, and were asked to evacuate to Spokane Falls Community College. Security guards also went door-to-door to ensure everyone was off campus, Coder said.

Cars full of evacuating residents could be seen stretching south along Northwest Boulevard. Smoke was so thick it blotted out the sun on North Driscoll Boulevard and West Francis Avenue.

Flames were visible as trees in the dry Riverside State Park burned.

The fire roared through parts of the state park west of the river and across the Centennial Trail. Fire maps show it raced to the river, narrowly missing the popular foot bridge at the Bowl and Pitcher area, and then jumped the water. The fire’s path skirted Fairmont Memorial Park and showed towering flames at the Dwight Merkel Sports Complex.

It then blew though the area of the Spokane Rifle Club and into neighborhoods, including Westgate Park. The fire hurdled West Nine Mile Road and quickly spread.

Residents near Nine Mile on North Greenwood Boulevard were spraying down their homes and their neighbors’ homes. Some were wetting down firewood outside their houses. Theresa Sullivan, who was spraying down her home with a hose and her neighbor’s home, said “It’s never been this close before.”

“I never thought it would be up here,” she said. “I’m in shock.”

The fire then burned uphill at the city’s Northside landfill before destroying Indian Trail homes and continuing to West Strong Road in the Five Mile Prairie area by early evening.

Anjala Mullen was getting ready for a nap when she heard a knock at her door.

“Hurry up, we need to get out of here,” the person said.

Mullen, who evacuated from the area near the Five Mile Park and Ride, gathered her pets – three dogs and a cat – and left her home.

“I didn’t even know this was going to even happen,” she said.

Five Mile Prairie resident Jason Lasko wasn’t too worried the fire would reach his neighborhood when he first got the evacuation notice, but he started locking down his home and gathering items to take with him. He sped up his process when he noticed the thickness of the smoke and left in his pickup and went east on Strong Road.

“Strong Road was completely gridlocked,” he said.

He was at a standstill for 30 minutes or more, he said. Eventually, police officers were able to get westbound traffic to turn around, and the road became two eastbound lanes, helping to move the traffic out of the neighborhood.

Lasko’s mother-in-law, former Spokane City Councilwoman Candace Mumm, also evacuated from Five Mile.

“My house is still standing, but it was very, very close to my house,” she said about 8 p.m. from a relative’s house where many of her family gathered.

Mumm noted that the neighborhood has long pushed for a fire station to be built on Five Mile Prairie. When she was on the council, the city bought land for a fire station, but no money has been set aside for a station.

“We always worried about this,” she said. “We kept being told it was not a priority.”

State Sen. Marcus Riccelli evacuated from his Five Mile home via Austin Road a little after 3:30 p.m.

A drive that usually takes 5 minutes took about 40 minutes, he said. Some motorists began driving on the wrong side of the road before police made both lanes flow the same direction. Citizens were helping direct traffic at the bottom of the hill.

“It was a little bit dicey for a while,” said Riccelli, who evacuated to his in-laws north of town. “Some people, I think, were moving towards a little bit of panic.”

Firefighters assisted by aircraft were attempting to protect neighborhoods all afternoon and into the evening.

Those living along Northwest Boulevard congregated along the ledge by the road. Across the Spokane River, flames covered a hillside just miles away.

As cars fled the flames bumper to bumper along for miles, those out of danger watched from picnic blankets.

In 30 years living in Spokane, Michael Keller said he had never seen fire get so close to the city’s core.

“I’ve never seen it this bad. It has never in my life been this close,” he said.

Keller’s wife and adult son had just left to go toward the evacuation zone, hoping to recover items from the empty home of a relative.

“I don’t know if they’ll even get in. They’re trying save we stuff, but I’m really worried about them if they do make it in,” he said.

Bob Moore raced up Government Way Saturday but was intercepted by Spokane police.

“You got to let me go up there, man,” Moore called from his truck window.

“I can’t let you up there right now,” the officer told him.

“My shop, my house. I need to protect my house,” Moore pleaded.

The officer called around, made an attempt to try and get Moore up to his home. “I’m worried about my stuff.”

“I’m sorry,” the officer told him.

Moore told The Spokesman-Review his wife grabbed their “go-bags” and their dogs and was waiting at the bottom of the hill.

“She called and said, ‘You got to come home right now,’” Moore said as he watched the plume of smoke erupt past Riverside State Park.

Others who were intercepted at the roadblock on North Government Way were crying and pleading with police to let them up the hill. There was nothing police could do, they said.

The Spokane County Commission met Saturday night to declare a state of emergency in the county. It will grant Nowels and Fox authority to bypass protocol for purchasing equipment and supplies. It will also start the process for getting state and any potential federal support, said Spokane County spokeswoman Martha Lou Wheatley Billeter.

Riccelli said he was trying to grasp the scope of the disaster.

“We do a good job when we come together in Spokane,” Riccelli said. “And I think we’re all going to be called upon to step up.”

Spokesman-Review staffers Julia Pentasuglio, Amanda Sullender, Alayna Shulman, Jonathan Brunt, Ricky Schodl, Elena Perry, Nick Gibson and John Stucke contributed to this article. Freelancer Jordan Tolley-Turner contributed reporting as well.