The Spokane Complex fires have begun winding down, with thousands of evacuees returning home. But the scale of the destruction is staggering: the Old Trails, Autumn Lane and Fairview fires burned roughly 10,000 acres and destroyed or severely damaged more than 900 structures, forcing about 64,000 people to evacuate. Nearly 1,700 firefighters battled the blazes, and fortunately there have been no reported fatalities or serious injuries.

The immediate crisis is giving way to a painful recovery—and a very legitimate question about whether Washington has done enough to manage its forests and reduce wildfire fuels.

To be clear, the Old Trails Fire is being treated as arson, and a suspect has been charged. But how a fire starts and how devastating it becomes are two different questions. Weather, wind, vegetation and fuel loads all play a role in determining whether an ignition becomes a neighborhood-destroying inferno.

And Washington has known about the fuel problem for years.

The state’s own Department of Natural Resources has identified millions of acres of unhealthy forestland requiring treatment, including thinning and prescribed burning. Yet the Legislature has repeatedly failed to maintain funding at the level originally promised.

In 2021, lawmakers approved an eight-year, $500 million wildfire and forest-restoration program. The program has funded forest thinning, fire crews and other preparedness efforts. But in 2025, the Democrat-controlled Legislature cut wildfire-prevention funding by $60 million, reducing it to $60 million for the biennium.

Even more troubling, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said lawmakers cut its forest-health budget by 80%, from $3 million annually to just $600,000, and did not restore that funding during the 2026 session.

After facing political pressure, the cuts were so unpopular that lawmakers ultimately restored $60 million in 2026. But that hardly erases the larger problem: Democrats have controlled Washington’s government for years, controlled the Legislature when these decisions were made, and have had years of warnings about the state’s growing wildfire risk.

This isn’t about pretending every wildfire can be prevented. It is about asking whether the state is doing enough to make inevitable fires less catastrophic.

Spokane officials have already spent years warning about wildfire risk around the city, while state officials acknowledge the enormous backlog of forest-health work. The need for thinning, prescribed burns and vegetation management isn’t some new idea invented after this year’s fires.

And Spokane isn’t starting from zero. Residents are still dealing with the aftermath of the 2023 Gray and Oregon fires. Now, just three years later, the region has suffered another catastrophic fire event.

That should be a wake-up call.

Instead of waiting for the next disaster and then scrambling to find money for firefighting and recovery, Washington needs to aggressively address the fuel problem before the next spark.

Democrats in Olympia have had years to do it. They’ve had the warnings. They’ve had the reports. They’ve had the money.

And yet Washington still has millions of acres waiting for treatment.

The firefighters who raced toward Spokane deserve enormous credit. The residents who lost homes deserve our prayers and support. But once the smoke clears, Olympia needs to answer a very simple question: Why wasn’t Washington doing more before the flames arrived?

Seattle and King County are pulling nearly $160 million in homeless-service contracts away from the troubled King County Regional Homelessness Authority after a forensic audit uncovered $13 million in mismanaged funds and a $45 million deficit.

The authority has cycled through five CEOs in just six years and was found to have weak financial controls and vulnerabilities to fraud. Now, instead of simply shutting down the failed agency, local Democrats are spreading the bureaucracy around.

Seattle will take over 117 contracts worth $112.8 million and hire 23 new employees at a cost of $3.9 million annually. King County will take over another 100 contracts worth $46.3 million and hire 10 workers at $2 million a year.

Meanwhile, the homelessness authority will lay off roughly one-third of its workforce and refocus on grants and tracking homelessness data.

So after years of pouring money into a regional homelessness agency that couldn’t keep its finances straight, the solution is apparently to move the work into two more government departments and add more employees.

Same spending. More bureaucracy. And, conveniently, nobody has to admit the experiment failed. Read more at The Center Square.

UPDATE to yesterday’s breaking story: Tacoma prosecutors have now formally charged Democratic House candidate Krista Rose Perez with DUI following the five-car crash that occurred exactly one week after she won the Aug. 4 primary.

Perez narrowly defeated Democratic incumbent Rep. Melanie Morgan, winning 51.2% to 48.8% (8,207 to 7,826 votes). The two Democrats will now face each other again in the November general election for the 29th Legislative District’s Position 1 seat.

The newly filed police report adds significant details to yesterday’s Jason Rantz exclusive. According to the officer, Perez smelled strongly of alcohol, appeared confused and disoriented, had slurred speech, red eyes and an unsteady gait. She allegedly told police she didn’t know what happened after her pickup crashed into a parked vehicle, triggering the five-car collision.

Perez reportedly admitted to drinking a glass of wine but refused field sobriety tests. She then made three attempts to provide a breath sample but failed to produce a usable sample, resulting in an official “Refusal.” Prosecutors have included a refusal enhancement with the DUI charge.

Her arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 18. Perez has not been convicted and remains presumed innocent.

But with ballots going out in October, the Democrat who campaigned on “decency and progressive values” now has a criminal DUI charge to explain to voters—including the 7,826 voters who supported her opponent in the primary. Read more at Seattle Red.

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