Saturday started as a day of celebration for Micaela Jaime and her family.
She and 14 others had gathered at her parents’ place, just northwest of Spokane, Washington, to celebrate her daughter’s 12th birthday. But by the afternoon, Jaime was receiving text messages warning that her neighborhood of Five Mile Prairie was under evacuation orders as wildfires tore through Spokane County.
Her dog, Hope, was still in their house. Jaime and her husband tried to race home to save their pet, but the roads were already blocked. A friend rescued the dog and Jaime returned to her parents’ place on Lake Spokane, where she figured they’d be safe.
By the evening though, another fire was raging along the lake and police urged them to evacuate.
The roads were packed with other evacuees by 7 p.m., Jaime said. Instead, the family grabbed photo albums, among other valuables, and a cat, then loaded into two boats.
They set off toward the middle of Lake Spokane with houses exploding in firework-like booms on both sides.
For hours, they watched the dark hills nearby erupt in flame as firefighters moved from house to house, trying to salvage them.
“It was surreal,” Jaime said, “watching this beautiful land just burned down and all of these gorgeous lake homes just burned to the ground.”
By Monday, three major wildfires had burned some 700 structures around Spokane, and approximately 65,000 people — more than 10 percent of the county’s population — were under orders to evacuate, authorities said. Members of the Washington National Guard were activated to assist local responders.
Authorities arrested 37-year-old Aaron F. Farinacci on Monday and charged him with first-degree arson in connection with Old Trails Fire, the first of the three. The origins of the other two fires are under investigation, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The largest of the blazes, the Autumn Lane Fire, grew about 1,000 acres overnight Sunday — far more than the 20 acres initially reported, said Benjamin Cossel, a spokesperson for the federal team managing the incident.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson (D), citing Spokane’s mayor, called the fires “likely the worst natural disaster in Spokane’s history.”
Jaime and her family stayed on the boats until after midnight, she said. Once the winds changed, she and her kids went to a cabin. Her father stayed out on the water, guarding their possessions.
The Pacific Northwest has been in a drought since May, facing hot, dry weather. In June, about 11,000 people were given evacuation orders because of fire in northeast Spokane.
But fire conditions rapidly worsened over the weekend, particularly Saturday, when the Storm Prediction Center called for an “extremely critical” wildfire risk in southeastern Washington and northern Oregon.
The Old Trails Fire was reported burning west of Spokane on Saturday afternoon. That evening, the fire leaped the Spokane River and burned its way into town.
Across the river, Donalda Brantley, 20, left her house in a daze Saturday evening. She said she’d heard popping noises in the distance but didn’t think much of it as she grabbed her laptop on the way out the door.
As she fled with her boyfriend, flames got so close to the car that they could feel the heat as they drove. The popping she’d heard earlier, she realized, was the fire flattening her neighbor’s house.
“I drive this Indian Trail Road every day,” Brantley said. “Seeing this house that we see every single day just completely gone and their car just gone was really bizarre.”
Large swaths of northern Spokane remained under Level 3 evacuation orders Monday, and two of the fires had zero percent containment, according to Watch Duty, a platform that tracks wildfires.
Temperatures are expected to rise into the upper 90s starting Wednesday. Humidity levels are expected to be low.
State officials have requested federal assistance for six counties and three tribal nations, including for search and rescue. Ferguson said Monday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had not yet approved the request but had begun moving resources to the state in anticipation that it would be granted.
After a night in the cabin, Jaime took her kids to Idaho. On Monday, her house was still under evacuation orders, and the flames still threatened her parents’ home on Lake Spokane.
More relatives headed to Idaho to join her, too. But her father stayed at his house, Jaime said, armed with a hose and a determination to keep it standing. And he has the boat, she added, in case he needs another getaway.
Razzan Nakhlawi and Matthew Cappucci contributed to this report.
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