Spokane County sheriff says evacuations won’t be lifted for ‘many, many more days’

Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels is urging patience as crews continue to battle the three wildfires that make up the Spokane Complex Fire, which has damaged or destroyed 846 structures and forced more than 60,000 people from their homes.

“We are not going to be downgrading these zones in any large way for many, many more days to come,” Nowels said. “We have many, many encounters with citizens who are angry. They’re trying to push past. We really need to have this kind of behavior stop.”

Nowels said crews need to be sure fire lines will hold, especially with continued hot, dry weather raising the risk of new fires across the Spokane area.

Arson arrest made in one of three Spokane blazes

One of the three fires was arson, and one person is under arrest.

The other two fires remain under investigation, though one appears to have been accidental, Nowels said.

1,500 firefighters from 23 states making progress on wildfires

A total of 1,500 firefighters from 23 states are on the fire lines and are making progress getting lines around the Spokane Complex fires. Over the past 24 hours, the complex of fires only grew in size by two acres.

“We are gonna continue to work to improve those lines,” Tom Stokesberry, a spokesperson for California Interagency Incident Management Team 7, said. “We have favorable weather today and part of the day tomorrow before the other weather comes in. So we are gonna work really hard. We are not gonna sit back and think that what we have is gonna be sufficient. We are gonna keep attacking it.”

Spokane weather forecast: Hot, dry conditions continue Thursday

Thursday’s forecast calls for hot, dry weather, with high temperatures in the mid to upper 90s — conditions that could challenge firefighters working to hold the lines around the Spokane Complex Fire.

Frank Lenzi is the News Director for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here.

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