One month of wildfires has cost Washington state over $200 million

On Aug. 1, the Spokane Complex forest fires ignited in Washington state and blazed for nearly two weeks across the eastern side of the state. With the smoke beginning to clear, Washington will have to reckon with the financial impact of fighting the fires: barely a month into the new fiscal year, Washington’s Department of Natural Resources has already spent $207 million fighting forest fires, nearly two-thirds of what it spent in the entirety of the fiscal year prior. 

The 2025 fiscal year fires also had a devastating financial impact: the state budgeted just $18 million to fight forest fires and spent $304.5 million combatting them. In 2026, wildfires have already destroyed over 770,000 acres in Washington, the third-highest on record, writes Aspen Ford for Washington State Standard. 

Washington’s Department of Natural Resources will request emergency funding from the federal government in an attempt to close its funding gap, the highest request on record. It will also likely request additional wildfire funding from Washington Governor Bob Ferguson for the next fiscal year.

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