Five days after wind-driven flames tore through northwest Spokane County, the Old Trails, Autumn Lane and Fairview fires are still burning, and Thursday brought two developments that reframed the disaster's scale.
A Wednesday-evening update carried by The Spokesman-Review and echoed by KIRO 7 had the numbers reversed, with Fairview lagging at 5% and Old Trails and Autumn Lane each at 13%.
Spokane County has opened shelters at the Spokane Convention Center for Old Trails evacuees, Northwood Middle School for those fleeing the Fairview Fire, and Jenkins High School in Chewelah for Stevens County residents displaced by fires burning north of the main complex, according to KIRO 7.
Investigators have said he was also questioned about earlier 2025 fires in the area, per OPB, though no charges related to those fires have been filed.
The firm said the event is expected to rank among the costliest wildfires for the insurance industry in the state's history, "if not the costliest," though it did not publish a specific dollar comparison to prior Washington fire seasons.
Five days into the Old Trails, Autumn Lane and Fairview fires, Gallagher Re warns of a possible billion-dollar insured loss while Aaron Farinacci is arraigned on an arson charge tied to the blaze that displaced more than 65,000 people.