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Congressman Michael Baumgartner is currently serving his first term in Congress as the Representative of the 5th district of Washington.
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My District Director visited the Incident Command Center at the Spokane County Fairgrounds to receive the latest updates on the fires and see firsthand how local, state, and federal partners are coordinating the response. We’re beyond grateful to the firefighters, first responders, emergency personnel, and everyone working around the clock to keep our communities safe and support all those affected.
My District Director visited the Disaster Assistance Center at Shadle Park High School. Representatives from insurance companies, healthcare and mental health providers, city, county, state, and federal agencies, along with other community resources, are all in one place to help connect those affected with the support they need.
Thank you to everyone working together to assist our communities during this difficult time. If you have been impacted by the wildfires, I encourage you to visit the Disaster Assistance Center.
Shadle Park High School
4327 N Ash St, Spokane, WA 99205
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I know that many in Spokane are eager to return to their homes. Some members of my staff are in the same situation. However, it is critical at this time that we follow the guidance that our County Emergency Management Team has put forward. Certain areas where they are still restricting access can be extremely hazardous even though flames may not be present. According to Sheriff Nowels, “If we let people come back in, and we don’t have a high degree of certainty that those fire lines will hold in the coming days, we’re putting people in danger. We are not going to do that, because then we, as law enforcement, have to go back in, put our men and women in danger to get people back out. I want our public to understand we are not doing this for no good reason. These areas are not safe right now.”
Thank you to our Emergency Management personnel, to our first responders, and to the hundreds that have come from out of state to assist our community. They have your safety at the top of their mind. Once it is safe to do so, evacuation levels will be downgraded and we can get to work on the recovery of impacted areas.
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The Emergency Declaration issued earlier this week is just the first step to open up assistance and funding from the federal government. This funding can be applied to all emergency protective measures and is focused on helping our state and local government agencies respond to the immediate danger of the fires.
To ensure more federal assistance comes to Eastern Washington, I will be advocating that the state follows this Emergency Declaration with a Major Disaster Declaration. This is a separate request from the state to the federal government that focuses on bringing in resources needed for our community’s long term recovery, assisting families and businesses directly that have been impacted by the fires. This request would come at a later date when the immediate danger has subsided and a better assessment of the full damage can be made, which is a requirement of the declaration request.
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Heartbreaking scenes of devastation at the Spokane fires, but thankfully so far no reported loss of life. 🇺🇸
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PLEASE DO NOT fly drones over the fire impacted areas. Spokane County Sheriff explains how drones are grounding official aircraft and hurting emergency efforts. 🇺🇸
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