A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Authorities in Spokane, Washington, have a man in custody on arson charges in connection with the Old Trails Fire. It’s one of three out-of-control wildfires that have burned hundreds of homes. We’ve got NPR’s Kirk Siegler on the line from Spokane. Kirk, tell us more about this arrest.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: Well, the sheriff’s office says it’s arrested a suspect, a 37-year-old Spokane man. He’s a convicted felon. It’s part of their investigation into the origins of the Old Trails Fire. It’s the most destructive wildfire of the three burning here in and around the city right now. The suspect’s name is Aaron Farinacci. He was arrested, we’re told, without incident, being charged with first-degree arson. And this is a significant development. I mean, combined, these three fires have displaced tens of thousands of people since last weekend, which is just extraordinary for a city this size.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, you’re across the street from the downtown Spokane Convention Center. That’s been transformed into a Red Cross shelter.
SIEGLER: Right. There have been dozens of people sleeping inside on cots. There’s just a lot of need. They’re looking to expand the shelter. And it’s also not just residents having to flee these neighborhoods. We’re talking about the evacuation of businesses, the entire VA hospital campus. You know, I’ve been watching people coming in here on buses from nursing homes, elder care facilities.
I met Charlie Patrick, who’s 54 and disabled. And she’s struggling with the dense smoke here in Spokane. It’s brutal. And just listen as she chokes back tears, A, saying she doesn’t know if she has an apartment to even go home to.
CHARLIE PATRICK: (Crying) I hope so ’cause I don’t want to be homeless. I hope it’s still there. I have a lot of memories, pictures and stuff of my family, that I can’t get back.
MARTÍNEZ: Wow. Any idea when people might be allowed back in?
SIEGLER: Well, some have, just to check on things. It could be days, though, maybe weeks. It just depends on what these fires do. It’s a very tenuous situation. One minute, the winds will pick back up, they’ll shift direction and start threatening neighborhoods again.
You know, A, these are the major urban wildfires we’ve come to dread and know all too well. It’s not the level of destruction just yet like we saw in Los Angeles last year, but it’s a big worry here in Spokane. You’ve got fires that started out in the wildlands outside the city. Wind brings them into these neighborhoods. And the structures themselves, the houses, just create the fuel for the fires to spread. Longtime locals like Deborah Curran (ph) are shocked. You know, until this last weekend, the idea of evacuating from a wildfire in the city hadn’t really been on her mind.
DEBORAH CURRAN: Obviously, we’ve had wildfire seasons a lot. And I never – because we live so inward in the city, I never ever imagined us having to be a Level 3 evacuation.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. And she sounds exactly like someone who has lived in Altadena or in Palisades might’ve thought in the last couple of years.
SIEGLER: Exactly.
MARTÍNEZ: But given the western drought, I mean, is this on the radar of city officials?
SIEGLER: Well, here, fire officials have been warning about this and worried about this very thing happening for years. I mean, I remember being up here a decade or so ago, doing a story about them planning about this very situation happening. And like a lot of American cities, even here in the Pacific Northwest, Spokane’s been built out into what’s known as the wildland urban interface. You’ve got these dense stands of ponderosa pine forests next to the gas stations, the mall, the Costco.
And they’re just towering their presence in so many neighborhoods. And right now, with climate change and coming off the winter that we just had – the extremely dry and warm – these forests and brush are just dry and flammable. It’s only being made worse by climate change. And everyone across the region is worried right now. And, A, it’s only early August.
MARTÍNEZ: That is NPR’s Kirk Siegler in Spokane, Washington. Kirk, thanks.
SIEGLER: You’re welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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