Old Trails Fire: Evacuations Widely Downgraded as Containment Climbs Above 60%

Published:August 2, 2026 · Last updated: August 10, 2026 · Reviewed by Ertuğrul Öz, Certified Fire Chief & Training Specialist

A fast-moving wildfire, now named the Old Trails Fire, broke out just before noon on Saturday, August 1, 2026, west of Spokane, Washington, near Old Trails Road and West Euclid Road. Driven by wind gusts reported between 35 and 50 mph and single-digit humidity, the fire grew rapidly through the afternoon, jumped the Spokane River, and pushed into Riverside State Park and neighborhoods in northwest Spokane. It has since stabilized at roughly 3,226 acres and is now 43% contained. Two related fires ignited the same day: the Fairview Fire, now about 992 acres and 43% contained, and the Autumn Lane Fire, the largest of the three at roughly 5,784 acres and now 61% contained. Together, the three are tracked as the Spokane Complex Fire, totaling roughly 10,000 acres. Spokane County Fire District 3 Fire Chief Cody Rohrbach said the majority of the 921 damaged or destroyed structures were lost in the Old Trails Fire alone (694 structures), with 168 lost to the Autumn Lane Fire and 59 to the Fairview Fire — many of them homes in the Indian Trail and Five Mile Prairie neighborhoods, where residents returning to check on their properties found blocks of homes burned down to their foundations.

Standing in front of the charred remains of his home on West Tiffany Avenue, one resident told The Spokesman-Review, "It's gone, all gone." Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown described the disaster as the worst her region has faced. Washington Governor Bob Ferguson activated the Washington National Guard, declared a statewide burn ban, and requested federal emergency funding, which President Trump subsequently approved via FEMA. Statewide, dozens of major fires have burned well over a quarter-million acres this season, as Washington faces its worst wildfire season in more than 30 years.

At the peak of the response, Level 3 "Go Now" evacuation orders — the highest level, meaning leave immediately due to life-threatening conditions — covered large parts of northwest Spokane, Airway Heights, and Suncrest, with roughly 65,000 people under evacuation orders. The Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center fully evacuated its patients to area shelters. A Red Cross shelter at the Spokane Convention Center sheltered hundreds of families overnight. An animal shelter is operating at the Barking Lot in Spokane Valley. The Spokane County Sheriff's Office cleared all missing-person reports, confirming no deaths or injuries were tied to any of the three fires. As of Sunday, Sheriff Nowels announced most Level 3 zones have been downgraded to Level 1 after a feared weekend red-flag wind event failed to reignite or spread the fires, and thousands of evacuees have started returning home. Officials continue to caution returning residents to be careful of debris, ash, and downed hazards.

Why the Fire Grew So Fast

Under Red Flag conditions, flames can climb into the tree canopy and travel with the wind — a "crown run" — far faster than ground crews or aircraft can respond to.

Hours before the Old Trails Fire started, the National Weather Service issued a "Particularly Dangerous Situation" (PDS) Red Flag Warning across Central and Eastern Washington — a designation reserved for the single most extreme fire-weather setups, and one officials said had never been issued in the state before. A strong cold front swept through the Inland Northwest on August 1, bringing historically strong, gusty winds and very low humidity on top of already dry vegetation.

Under those conditions, a spark can turn into a fast-moving, wind-driven fire within minutes rather than hours — and in this case, investigators say the spark was deliberate. Court documents show suspect Aaron Farinacci researched weather conditions using an app for roughly two weeks beforehand, specifically targeting a day with high winds, low humidity, and high heat. Observers on scene described the fire making sustained "crown runs," meaning flames were racing through treetops rather than creeping along the ground, which allows a fire to outrun typical containment efforts and cross natural barriers like a river.

Washington's State of Emergency and Burn Ban

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson declared a state of emergency and imposed a statewide burn ban running through September 30, 2026, activating members of the Washington National Guard and authorizing the state to draw on the Emergency Management Assistance Compact for additional out-of-state firefighting resources. The Washington State Fire Marshal's Office mobilized more than a dozen task forces, and Washington State Patrol authorized state fire mobilization within roughly 90 minutes of the fire's start.

Fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters were assigned to slow the fire's spread, though officials warned aircraft effectiveness would be limited by the same high winds driving the fire. President Trump subsequently approved a FEMA Fire Management Assistance Grant covering the Autumn Lane and Fairview fires. Zoomed out, this fire is part of a brutal wider season: Washington and Oregon are experiencing their worst wildfire season in more than 30 years, with well over 2 million acres burned statewide.

What Level 1, 2, and 3 Evacuations Actually Mean

These three levels are used by most Western U.S. counties, including Spokane County, and the wording is intentionally blunt: a Level 3 order is not a suggestion, and "this may be your only notice" language — used in the actual alerts sent for the Old Trails Fire — means responders may not have the resources to issue a second warning before conditions become unsurvivable.

Other Fires Burning in the Region Right Now

The Autumn Lane Fire remains the largest of the three at roughly 5,784 acres and is now the most contained at 61%; Old Trails (3,226 acres) and Fairview (992 acres) are both at 43% containment. Combined, the Spokane Complex Fire has burned roughly 10,000 acres. California Interagency Incident Management Team 7 has led the federally coordinated response, with more than 1,700 firefighters from multiple agencies and jurisdictions deployed at points during the response — a scale that drew international news coverage. With containment climbing on all three fires, evacuation levels have been downgraded across nearly the entire footprint except the immediate fire perimeter and a few still-threatened pockets; always confirm your specific address against the live county map rather than assuming a general improvement applies to you.

In a major escalation of the arson case, Spokane County prosecutors have now charged 37-year-old Aaron Farinacci with five counts of first-degree arson, up from the single count tied to the Old Trails Fire he was originally arrested for. Court documents say Farinacci confessed to detectives that he researched and planned the Old Trails Fire roughly two weeks in advance, studying a well-known arsonist and using a weather app to target a day with extreme fire conditions. He also admitted to setting approximately 25 other fires since July 2025 near his apartment along the Spokane River and Centennial Trail, four of which detectives have corroborated, including the Aubrey White Fire from July 2025. A judge doubled his bond to $2 million, and his defense attorney has requested a mental competency evaluation. Investigators have not linked Farinacci to the separate Autumn Lane or Fairview fires, whose causes remain under investigation.

Beyond Spokane, search interest has also spiked for the Wells Road Fire near Malden and the Palouse River Fire near Colfax, both in Whitman County, as well as other regional fires driven by the same pattern of dry fuels, low humidity, and strong wind. If you're tracking fire activity across the broader region rather than just Spokane, it's worth monitoring all of these, since a single wind event is capable of igniting or accelerating multiple fires at once.

What to Do If You're In or Near the Evacuation Area

Leaving under a Level 2 order rather than waiting for Level 3 means evacuating ahead of traffic and smoke rather than through it.

• ✓Check your exact address against the official Spokane County evacuation map before assuming you are or aren't affected — zone boundaries are drawn street by street and are still changing as evacuation levels drop.
• ✓If you're being allowed to return home, be cautious — avoid skin contact and inhalation around ash and debris, use N95, NIOSH, or P100 masks, and don't assume utilities are restored until confirmed.
• ✓Sign up for local emergency alerts if you haven't already — most counties, including Spokane, offer free text/email evacuation alerts tied to your address.
• ✓If you're still under a Level 2 order, leave before it becomes Level 3 — waiting for the highest level in fast-moving, wind-driven fires like this one can mean evacuating through smoke and traffic instead of ahead of it.
• ✓Check on neighbors who may need help — elderly residents, people without vehicles, and those with mobility limitations, especially as more people return to fire-damaged areas.
• ✗Don't enter Level 3 zones to "see how close it is" or check on property before it's declared safe — crews are still doing mop-up and hazard-tree removal there.
• ✗Don't rely on acreage or containment numbers from any single source, including this article — cross-check with official channels below, since figures can lag real conditions by hours.

Where to Get Live Updates

For real-time acreage, containment, and evacuation zone boundaries, use official and local sources rather than any single news article, including this one:

• Spokane County's official evacuation map — the authoritative source for current Level 1/2/3 zone boundaries.
• Washington State Department of Natural Resources wildfire dashboard — statewide fire activity, acreage, and containment updates.
• InciWeb (inciweb.wildfire.gov) — the federal incident information system used for significant wildfires, when the fire is added.
• Local broadcasters — KREM 2, KHQ, and The Spokesman-Review are providing rolling, on-the-ground coverage and are typically first to reflect boundary changes.
• AirNow.gov — for current air quality and smoke impact, including areas outside the fire perimeter.

We'll update this article as the situation develops. If you have a confirmed update from an official source, the fastest way to verify a change is to check it against Spokane County's own evacuation map before acting on it.