SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. – The Grove Fire in the Geiger Heights community a week ago marked the first major fire and subsequent evacuations of the 2024 wildfire season in Spokane County, and provided an early test of the county’s emergency alert system.
No one was hurt in the fire and no primary homes were lost, although less than 10 outbuildings were burned by the time the fire was completely contained towards the back end of last week–its cause is still under investigation.
The Grove Fire was about 75 acres at its peak and prompted Level 3 “Go Now!” evacuations for neighborhoods south of I-90 and west of US-195 near the fire, however the mobile alert notifying people of the evacuation order went out to the entirety of Spokane County, not just to residents in Spokane County Fire District 3 (SCFD 3) where the fire was burning.
Many people who were nowhere near the fire called their families and friends, even the NonStop Local KHQ newsroom, confused as to whether or not they needed to evacuate.
Spokane County Emergency Management (SCEM) says it was a “technical challenge” that led to every phone in the county getting the emergency evacuation mobile alert, instead of just the people nearby the fire.
“When we went to send the wireless emergency alert, the map had not fully loaded when the launch button was pushed,” SCEM Deputy Director Chandra Fox said in a Tuesday interview. “So the launch defaulted to our general authorized area, which is all of Spokane County.”
Fox says if an evacuation mobile alert goes to the entire county again, you can quickly tell if it’s near your home because all alerts always start with the agency that’s working the fire.
“In this case [it said] Fire District 3,” Fox said. “So if you’re not in Fire District 3, then that’s your first clue that it’s not going to impact you. It’s unfortunate that this particular alert went without the map, but that–in general–does not happen.”
New this fire season, you can head to spokane911.com and click on the “Look Up Address” button under the “Fire Evacuation Map” section, and put in an address to quickly find evacuation orders near you.
“This gives us a tool where they don’t need to call in to 911, they can simply look at a map, drop the pin and know very visually, very quickly if they’re impacted,” Fox said. “That will help provide more accurate information, and it also reduces some of the workload on our 911 call takers.”
It’s also a great idea to sign up for the “Alert Spokane” program, which allows you to put in multiple addresses, phone numbers and emails to be kept in the know about what’s going on around your home or business, even if you’re not there.
“If you are registered in the system, then you’re going to be in the first push that’s received,” Fox said.
“We think the worst thing in the world would be people not finding out, so we’d rather have the ability to over-communicate, than for folks to have a wildfire in their backyard and not know about it,” said SCFD 3 Chief Cody Rohrbach.
Rohrbach said the Grove Fire was an early introduction to fire season, and an opportunity to restart the conversation around fire preparedness.
“Wildfires by their very nature are unplanned events, the time to plan and affect the outcome is before the emergency,” Rohrbach said. “So, have an evacuation plan, maybe even a ‘go-bag’ with the things you know you’ll need to take in an emergency.”
“Whether that’s coordinating with a family member, coordinating with a neighbor, whatever that is to help you get through it,” Fox said.
“The Gray Fire last year was a great example of people letting firefighters know their neighbors were still inside,” Rohrbach said. “There were a lot of folks evacuated by law enforcement and firefighters that maybe would not have even known that there was a wildfire in the area, because of good communication. It’s neighbors helping neighbors.”
Officials say you also don’t have to wait for evacuations to reach Level 3 to leave the area.
“You don’t have to wait for the firefighter or the deputy to come banging on your door to say ‘hey you need to get out now,’ especially if you have challenges,” Fox said.
If you do find yourself in a Level 3 evacuation zone and are unable to leave due to a disability, lack of a vehicle or clogged roadways for example, officials say it’s imperative to call 911 and stay on the line.
“Even if you’re in a Level 1 and you know it may take you longer to get out, we would rather know ahead of time if you have those challenges,” Rohrbach said. “Or if you’re not inside the boundary and you feel like you’re close enough and you may have some special needs that require assistance to help you get out in the event of an emergency, we’d like to know about that too.”
Fox said her team has learned a ton from the Gray and Oregon Road fires last August, which is helping them adjust their approach to this fire season. She points to the just-announced “Fire Weather Alert System” as a prime example.
“We had 220 fire starts last year [in Spokane County], and every single one of those was started by a human being,” Fox said. “Our hope is the more we can educate people about the conditions that exacerbate fire, hopefully people will make better choices about their activities to help prevent some of those fire starts that can end so tragically for people.”
For more information on Spokane County’s emergency alert system and to access resources for checking evacuation notices, click here.
For more information on Spokane County Emergency Management, click here.
