Washington asks Trump for major disaster declaration after wildfires cause $188M in structural damage

# What happened

# The damage and where it occurred

Damage assessments attached to the request show 649 primary residences were destroyed across Spokane, Benton, Stevens and Okanogan counties and the Spokane Tribe. Spokane County accounted for 615 of the destroyed homes. Four homes sustained major damage and 15 sustained minor damage. Another 2,523 homes experienced lower-level damage, typically to exteriors. The estimated damage to those structures exceeds $188 million.

• FEMA public assistance exceeding $117 million to cover debris removal and emergency response costs across 11 counties: Asotin, Chelan, Columbia, Douglas, Ferry, Grant, Okanogan, Spokane, Stevens, Whitman and Yakima.

Robert Ezelle, director of the Washington State Emergency Management Division, said the state is preparing to move quickly if the declaration is approved and is "front-loading" work so assistance can be provided within days or weeks. He also said 75% of public assistance funding would be paid by the federal government, with the remaining 25% split between the state and counties.

# State-level recovery measures proposed

Ferguson announced state measures aimed at lowering rebuilding costs for homeowners who lost homes:

• Propose legislation for state and local sales and use tax rebates for homeowners rebuilding on the same site after a declared disaster. As an illustration, the governor gave a rough estimate that someone spending $400,000 to rebuild a home in Spokane could receive more than $36,000 in rebates.

Lt. Gov. Denny Heck, who led the state's review of rebuilding measures, described the proposed assistance as large relative to past recovery efforts and said the scale matches the losses.

# Context and next steps

The federal government previously approved an emergency declaration for immediate response needs. Ferguson said he hopes the major disaster declaration will be approved faster than federal approval for flooding earlier in the year, when the state waited seven weeks for a positive response. If the major disaster declaration is granted, FEMA will begin eligibility determinations for individual aid and funds would become available to support debris removal, emergency response and local government recovery activities.

Local officials and state agencies say they are ready to act quickly once federal approval arrives so recovery funds can flow to families and communities.