SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane County residents are starting the rebuilding process after two devastating wildfires swept through the area. To aid in that process, a center connecting people to resources is now open.
The Disaster Assistance Center at the Lodge is just across the street from the evacuation shelter at Spokane Falls Community College (SFCC). Inside are several state and local agencies available to support wildfire survivors as they begin to move forward.
Navigating the first few steps after a devastating wildfire is never easy, but the families displaced by the Gray Fire in Medical Lake and the Oregon Road Fire in Elk won't be alone at the start of that journey.
Chelsie Castagna is one of those people. She visited her home in Medical Lake on Thursday for the first time since she was evacuated on Aug. 18. She kept most of her belongings in a storage container.
The fire consumed it all.
"I went and saw nothing. Everything that's left is just debris," Castagna said. "It's hard. I've never been through this before, but I'm glad that there's resources like today."
Those resources can be found at the Disaster Assistance Center. It's a one-stop shop for wildfire survivors where they can start getting back on their feet. Simone Ramel-Mckay with Spokane County Emergency Management says you may not get all your questions answered at the assistance center, but it is a great place to start.
“We're hoping they can come to one location and get most of their questions answered," Ramel-Mckay said. "What we're hoping is we can find out what the needs are. Each of these agencies can say, 'Hey, we've got to get you into our database. We've got to get you set up, get an account set up and start moving the process forward.'”
Having already started that process gives Catagna some peace of mind, knowing she isn't going through this alone.
"There's a couple of those organizations that are telling me that there might be some at ease with that," she said.
Several more agencies are expected to set up at the center by early next week. In the meantime, the center at SFCC will remain open Saturday-Sunday and through next week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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