Last updated August 11, 2026. We check these links regularly. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
Families across Indian Trail, Five Mile Prairie and northwest Spokane lost homes in the August 2026 fires. These Spokane fire recovery resources focus on what comes next: opening the claim, documenting the loss, making cleanup decisions and getting a rebuild moving in the right order.
Hug can help with the construction side. We define the scope, bring cleanup and restoration professionals in early, and keep design, permits and the rebuild connected. You do not need to have the whole process mapped out before you call.
After a total loss: what to do first
The first few decisions can affect the rest of your claim and cleanup. You do not need to solve everything at once. Start here.
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Open the claim and start a record.
Call your insurer, get a claim number and write down the name and contact information for the person handling it. Photograph or video what you can safely reach, begin a written inventory, and keep every receipt for lodging, meals and other immediate expenses.
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Understand the four parts of your coverage.
Ask for your limits for the dwelling, other structures, personal property and additional living expenses (also called loss of use). Ask whether the policy pays replacement cost or actual cash value, and request important deadlines in writing.
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Bring Hug into the conversation early.
Hug can document the construction scope, develop realistic costs and sit down with the insurance adjuster with you. We keep the conversation grounded in what it will actually take to rebuild, and bring in qualified cleanup, restoration and financial professionals when needed.
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Be careful who you let in.
Large fires bring door-to-door contractors and “free” services that may come with contracts, direct-payment forms or other obligations. Check registrations and references with Washington Labor & Industries. Do not sign until you understand who will be paid, what work is authorized and how you can cancel.
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Do not rush cleanup.
Ask whether the insurer needs to inspect the site before debris moves. Photograph the property first, and if the home was built before 1980, have it tested for asbestos before ash is disturbed.
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Slow down before you agree.
Ask for estimates, coverage decisions and settlement offers in writing. If something is unclear, ask for an explanation or independent help before signing.
Your insurance
There is an emergency order protecting you right now
On August 3 the Washington Insurance Commissioner issued an emergency order covering every property and auto insurer in the state, in effect through September 30, 2026. It applies to all zip codes, and adjacent zip codes, where fires burned structures or evacuations were ordered. Under it, insurers must:
- Give you a 45-day grace period on premium payments, and waive late and reinstatement fees
- Not cancel your policy for nonpayment unless you ask them to
- Give 120 days notice instead of 60 before non-renewing property coverage, and 60 instead of 20 on auto
If an insurer tells you otherwise, that order is your answer. Here is the order itself if you need to point to something.
Open a claim even if you do not know yet. You do not need to have seen the house. Call, get a claim number, write down who you spoke with and when. Then ask two questions: what your dwelling limit is, and what your additional living expenses coverage pays and for how long. Those two numbers shape everything.
Keep receipts starting now. Hotels, meals, clothes, pet boarding, a phone charger. Most policies reimburse those under ALE and the reimbursement is only as good as your records.
When the insurer goes quiet. The Office of the Insurance Commissioner has a free consumer advocacy line at 1-800-562-6900, weekdays 8:30 to 4:30. Their counselors take it up with the company for you, and they are staffing Disaster Assistance Centers in person. People under use this badly.
You do not have to meet with the insurance adjuster alone. Hug has joined many homeowners in those meetings. We can bring the construction scope and estimates, walk through the work with the adjuster and help ask the right questions when a number or line item does not match what it will take to rebuild. For additional homeowner guidance, United Policyholders keeps a free claim library.
Money and assistance
If you still need temporary housing, check current shelter information with the Red Cross or call 1-800-733-2767. Project Spokane’s fire relief housing board lists rooms, homes and RV spaces for longer stays. Call or check the listing before driving anywhere.
Property tax relief, and the deadline nobody mentions. Washington has a destroyed property provision (RCW 84.70.010) plus an exemption under ESB 5454 covering the value of new construction that replaces a destroyed single-family home. The form is Department of Revenue 64-0117, and it has to be filed with the county assessor before construction starts. More detail on Spokane County’s fire disaster relief page. This is the one that gets missed, and it is hard to fix once the foundation is in.
Federal aid comes in stages. Fire Management Assistance Grants come first and pay for fighting the fire, not for households. Individual Assistance for homeowners and renters is a separate declaration the state requests and the federal government approves, and it does not automatically follow. If it is approved, registration opens at DisasterAssistance.gov and low-interest SBA disaster loans at sba.gov/disaster or (800) 659-2955. Local announcements land on Spokane County’s wildfire resources page.
Check with your own bank or credit union, too. Two current local offers are listed below. Both are temporary and subject to approval, so confirm the terms directly with the lender before applying.
Long-term help with what insurance will not cover. The Spokane Region Long Term Recovery Group came out of the 2023 Gray and Oregon Road fires and has disaster case managers on staff. Get your name to them early.
Cleanup, ash and air quality
Start with an evaluation. Before anyone signs a cleanup agreement, have the site looked at by an experienced restoration contractor. We work with Compass Construction and Capstone Construction for cleanup, mitigation and smoke or soot damage. Hug can connect that evaluation to the construction scope so cleanup and rebuilding decisions happen in the right order.
Two things before anyone starts clearing. Ask your insurer whether they need to inspect first, because some policies require it and clearing early can cost you reimbursement on work you have already paid for. And if the house was built before 1980, have it tested for asbestos before debris is disturbed. Asbestos does not burn, so it ends up in the ash. Spokane Regional Clean Air sets local rules for testing, removal and disposal, and the EPA has homeowner guidance. One rule worth knowing: never dust, sweep or vacuum debris that might contain asbestos.
Structural ash is not yard waste. It carries whatever the building was made of, which makes it more toxic than ash from burned brush. Washington’s Department of Health has the most thorough post-fire cleanup guidance available, covering protective equipment and how to handle ash without putting it back into the air. Wear an N95 and gloves at minimum. Anyone pregnant, over 65, or dealing with respiratory or cardiovascular conditions should not be doing this work at all.
How bad is the smoke damage, and can you handle it yourself? FEMA sorts it into five categories based on what you can see on horizontal surfaces, whether there is airborne particulate, and whether there is an odor. Light damage you can clean yourself. Moderate takes detailed work. Heavy means retaining a professional restoration contractor. Any visible fire damage to structure or contents means not entering until the fire department clears it. The full table is in FEMA’s Homeowner’s Guide to Risk Reduction and Remediation of Residential Smoke Damage.
How bad is the smoke damage?
Find the row that matches what you are actually seeing in the house. A wipe test on a horizontal surface will confirm whether there is soot or ash when it is not obvious.
Adapted from Table 1 of FEMA’s Homeowner’s Guide to Risk Reduction and Remediation of Residential Smoke Damage. A US government work, reproduced here for readability on a phone.
Clearing the air. A portable air cleaner with a HEPA and carbon filter will pull smoke residue out of the air. Air fresheners and ozone generators will not, and ozone generators create their own problem. Washington DOH keeps a guide to portable air cleaners and a list of units meeting their recommendations.
Do not burn or bury debris, and check before you haul. Burning is an obvious risk and burying puts contaminants into soil and groundwater. Before loading up for the transfer station, call ahead or check online. After a fire this size, temporary limits on material and volume are common because everyone has the same idea at the same time. Spokane County covers local requirements on its fire debris page.
If you are on a well or septic, Spokane Regional Health District has a guide to wells and septic systems after a fire, and broader guidance on returning after a wildfire.
Statewide recovery library. After the Fire Washington collects homeowner guidance covering erosion, landscape recovery, and the parts of recovery that come months later.
How Hug guides the rebuild
A total-loss rebuild is not a normal construction project. The claim, cleanup, design, permits and construction overlap, and early decisions affect what comes later.
Hug handles the construction side from early scope and cost work through design, permits and the finished rebuild. We coordinate with Compass or Capstone on restoration, provide the construction information your insurance team asks for, and connect you with financial or insurance professionals when a question falls outside our role.
You still make the decisions about your home. Our job is to keep the next construction step clear and prevent the work from becoming a string of disconnected hand-offs.
If you want the longer version, our guide to rebuilding after a fire in Spokane and North Idaho walks through insurance coordination, timelines, permitting and fire-resistant choices.
If you want to help
Innovia Foundation’s Spokane Complex Wildfire Response Fund grants to local nonprofits doing the work on the ground. The Red Cross is running shelters. Project Spokane needs people with a spare room more than it needs money. KHQ keeps a recovery hub with verified ways to give.
Still not sure where to start?
Call us. You do not need a cleanup plan, a rebuild budget or a finished insurance estimate before the conversation. Tell us what happened, what your insurer has asked for and which decisions are in front of you.
We’ll help identify the next construction step, connect you with the right restoration or professional resource, and tell you honestly if it is too early for a builder to be involved. If Hug is the right fit, we can carry the work from the first scope conversation through the finished home.