MEDICAL LAKE, Wash. — The Spokane Region Long Term Recovery Group (SRLTRG) and other community organizations continue to support families in Spokane County that were impacted nearly one year ago by the Gray and Oregon Road wildfires.
On August 18, 2023, the Gray Fire broke out near Medical Lake. The fire burned more than 10,000 acres on the West Plains and destroyed 240 homes.
In addition, the Oregon Road Fire near Elk, Washington burned roughly 11,000 acres within Spokane and Pend Oreille counties and destroyed 126 homes.
These two fires caused a combined loss of $166 million in property value and left hundreds of people without homes.
In August of 2024, a year later, SRLTRG says less than 25% of the displaced families have been able to return home and only about half have began rebuilding.
According to SRLTRG, about 20% of the impacted families still need significant help from the community to rebuild and recover from the fire.
“Recovery begins the moment the disaster happens. We are now at the one-year mark of recovery and together we have made tremendous progress yet, many people are still without homes,” said Medical Lake Mayor Terri Cooper. “However, with sufficient funding we can attract national non-profit organizations active in disaster to match their time, talent, and resources with ours gaining 10 times the buying power. That’s the beauty of community partnerships.”
SRLTRG says it will launch a large rebuilding campaign before the end of September and several other local organizations have accomplished significant recovery efforts in the last year.
SRLTRG is a nonprofit focused on recovery that brings together community officials, government agencies and faith-based organizations to address the unmet needs of those impacted by the wildfire.
The organizations that are involved with rebuilding include ReImagine Medical Lake, Elk Strong, the New Hope Resource Center, The Salvation Army, the Innovia Foundation and the Spokane County Emergency Management.
The recovery efforts so far include:
8 homes constructed by Christian Public Service (CPS) for uninsured or underinsured families
5 temporary living units built by Country Church of the Open Bible
6 pump houses completed by the Sister Corps
Several other community projects to help families such as debris and tree removal, asbestos testing, providing temporary housing, reconnecting to utilities and preparing for winter in temporary housing.