“I can see the fire across the street. Everything is on fire,” Devon Traylor remembers. “I said, ‘we’ve got to go, now.'”
Devon was taking a nap when a string of urgent phone calls woke him up.
“My son had called me, then my sister called me,” Devon recalls. “She’s like, ‘Do you know what’s going on?'”
Soon Devon could see the smoke and fire getting closer.
“All of a sudden it went to Level 3 within minutes,” Devon said, referencing ALERT Spokane, a local early warning notification system. “My neighbor is a single mom, so I went and helped her.”
Level 3 warnings usually indicate imminent danger and mean that residents should evacuate immediately.
As Devon and his neighbor fled, smoke engulfed their street. They tried to return to their homes to gather some of their belongings, but the smoke was so thick they could no longer breathe.
Luckily, Devon, his family, and his neighbors escaped, but the fire destroyed more than 850 structures, including Devon’s. Around 2,500 other structures were also damaged as the fires spread to burn an estimated 10,000 acres. An estimated 65,000 people were forced to evacuate quickly, and many fled with only the clothes on their backs.
Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown described the three converging fires as “the worst natural disaster our region has faced.”
“Thankfully, I have family that lives a little bit outside of town,” Devon said. “But there are people who have nothing.”
Displaced Spokane residents needed essential supplies, so members of CARE’s U.S. Programs team traveled to Washington to help with the response.
“By the time we arrived, the fires were pretty much contained and the city was getting back to normal — kind of in recovery mode,” said Brooks Lee, a CARE photographer who traveled to Spokane. “It was a rapid deployment to assist local partners already embedded in the community, who understand local needs and who could help accelerate recovery efforts.”
