Spokane Fires Now at 700+ Structures Destroyed, 14 Still Missing After Nearly 300 Reported Missing

Since the Old Trails Fire broke out Saturday, August 1, north of Spokane, the numbers have kept climbing. As of Monday, August 3, more than 700 structures have burned, roughly 64,000 people remain under evacuation orders, and fire crews still report zero percent containment on the main blazes, according to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Courtney James, speaking to the Associated Press.

No deaths have been confirmed. That's the one piece of good news holding steady through three days of destruction. But the missing-persons picture, while improving, isn't fully resolved. Spokane County Sheriff's Office spokesman Cpl. Mark Gregory told the Associated Press that of roughly 290 initial missing person reports, all but 14 have been cleared as of Monday. Gregory cautioned those remaining 14 "may not all be specifically associated with the Spokane Complex Fires."

Benjamin Cossel, a spokesperson for the California Interagency Incident Management Team 7 assisting on the ground, told Reuters there's "a high probability" the no-fatalities count changes once search teams can reach areas still inaccessible due to fire activity.

Scale of the damage

The fires have burned roughly 8,000 acres, or about 12.5 square miles, according to the Associated Press, though early Sunday evening estimates from CBS News put the figure closer to 12 square miles. The variance reflects how fast the fire perimeter has been changing hour to hour, not conflicting reporting.

Three fires make up the Spokane Complex: the Old Trails Fire, the Fairview Fire, and the Autumn Lane Fire, which has absorbed what was previously tracked separately as the Meadowview Fire. Cossel told CBS News the Autumn Lane Fire is the top priority because it "has the most potential to just kind of get out and go wild, like, truly go wild." Forward progress on the Fairview Fire had stopped as of Sunday night, and while Old Trails remained active, Cossel said the "major danger" there had passed — for now.

About 1,000 to 1,100 firefighters are on the ground, per the Associated Press and the Straits Times, alongside roughly 4,000 total personnel working the broader Washington fire response, according to Washington Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove. Upthegrove called it "an extraordinary fire season in the Pacific Northwest."

A break, then a warning

Monday's forecast brought lighter winds and cooler temperatures, giving crews a genuine window to make progress, the Associated Press reported. But that window is short. Cossel and other officials warned that by midweek, temperatures are expected to climb back into the mid-to-high 90s with relative humidity in the lower teens. Cossel described these conditions as a "recipe for extreme fire behavior."

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell said Sunday, "We are not out of danger. The next couple of days will be challenging."

Comparisons and context

Cossel drew a direct comparison to last year's Los Angeles fires, telling CBS News the scale here is "at the same level of an Altadena Eaton Fire or a Palisades sort of event." This underscores why Governor Bob Ferguson has called this potentially the worst natural disaster the region has faced.

The Spokane fires aren't isolated. Nationwide wildfire activity is running at a decade-high pace, according to the Straits Times, with drought and heat cited as drivers. A separate fire in western Idaho and eastern Oregon has burned nearly 525 square miles over 10 days, threatening more than 600 homes and 800 other structures, the Associated Press reported. Statewide in Washington, more than 390 square miles have burned.

What's unresolved

Investigators still haven't determined how the fires started, according to both the Associated Press and Reuters reporting relayed by the Straits Times. No cause has been named publicly by any official source as of Monday.

The other open question is how high the final structure count goes. Cossel told CBS News flatly that the current 600-plus figure "will increase as firefighters are able" to get into areas still too dangerous to access. Aerial infrared surveys have already flagged as many as 400 additional buildings as possibly damaged or destroyed beyond the confirmed count, per the Straits Times.

Evacuees include patients moved out of Spokane's VA hospital, according to the Associated Press. Community fundraising efforts for displaced families, including one for the Aspaas family who returned from a trip to find their home gone, have spread online as neighbors organize aid faster than official channels can move.

The next real test comes when the heat returns midweek. Whether the roughly 1,100 firefighters on the ground can build meaningful containment lines before then will determine whether this fire's final toll looks like Sunday's numbers or something much worse.