Slog AM: Fire in Spokane, Another Police Chief Who Doesn’t Live Here, and Time to Vote

Three wildfires ravaged Spokane this weekend, burning hundreds of structures and forcing 60,000 people to evacuate their homes. The Autumn Lane, Fairview, and Market fires began Saturday, during hot, dry, and windy weather the National Weather Service described as “particularly dangerous.” Within minutes of sparking, each became an inferno on the wind, jumping the Spokane river “in a matter of hours, leaving behind a trail of untold damage,” reports the Seattle Times. Assistant Spokane Fire Chief Lance Dahl told reporters Saturday “there is not a fire department in the United States that can handle a wind-driven event this size.” Standing on what used to be her driveway in Spokane’s Indian Trail neighborhood, Shari Clark told a Spokesman-Review reporter “This is what I imagine a war zone is like.” 

We don’t know what caused the fires, which are already one of the worst disasters in Washington State history. It won’t be the last. Climate change is making tempestuous wildfires more common. “Think of the Palisades, Eaton, Lahaina and Marshall fires,” the Times writes before reminding the reader that this is our fourth year of severe drought in a row.

Shortly after it began, the blaze became the “top national priority for firefighters.” They flew in by the hundreds, and from as far away as Florida, Alaska, Australia, and New Zealand, said Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove. More than 100 National Guard troops are on the ground. Yet resources remain thin. And while FEMA has authorized federal funds for these fires, it won’t be enough, and Trump has a record of withholding disaster aid from his political enemies in Democratic states. Washington is currently suing Trump for shutting down FEMA’s bipartisan Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. A dozen more fires are burning across Washington, attended to by thousands of firefighters.

Fuck ICE: The federal people-snatching agency is still arresting immigrants using Washington driver data. According to a report from the University of Washington Center for Human Rights, ICE used the data to arrest 64 people between August 2025 and July 2026. As of last Tuesday, that number has climbed to 79. The state has blocked federal immigration cops from searching the national law enforcement data-sharing platform Nlets for our plates and licenses—it violates our state sanctuary law, Keep Washington Working—but that data can be found elsewhere, reports the Times.

According to the West Seattle Blog, ICE detained someone in Arbor Heights around 10 am on Saturday. Protesters gathered at The Junction on Sunday to protest the arrest of Eduardo Aguirre Esparza, a local contractor married to an American citizen. Sen. Patty Murray called the effort to “forcefully detain and deport” this man “cruel and wrong.”

Ballots are due tomorrow. Consult the Stranger’s endorsements, or our cheat sheet, and find your nearest drop box because it is too late to slip it in the mail and guarantee it will be counted.

ICYMI: While conducting research for the Stranger Election Control Board, staff writer Hunter Pauli discovered that Democratic Rep. David Hackney went on a tour of Israel paid for by the Israeli government during the ongoing genocide in Gaza. With more digging, he found three more members of the state House of Representatives attended this “50 States, One Israel” tour: Democratic Rep. Mari Leavitt, Republican Rep. Drew Stokesbary, and Republican Rep. Chris Corry. A review of legislative records showed all four pushed legislation in Olympia benefitting the Israeli government, including bills to criminalize street protests, suppress university campus encampments, and condemn the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement; one legislator effectively blocked a bill calling on the federal government to investigate the Israeli Defense Force’s killing of 26-year-old University of Washington graduate Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi. 

Clinging to his nomination by the fingertips, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche formally terminated Trump’s $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund for his friends and allies who claim they were targeted by the Biden administration for silly crimes like seditious conspiracy. Blanche said in June that the Feds would not move forward with the payouts, but Republicans and Judiciary panel members Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) wanted that in writing before they endorsed Blanche for attorney general. According to Politico, Trump said he’d push to codify the fund into law if the Senate killed Blanche’s nomination.

New Chief of Police: After asking Shon Barnes, the police chief who wasn’t there (enough), to resign last week, Mayor Katie Wilson promoted deputy chief of investigations Andre Sayles to interim chief of police. Wilson says she chose Sayles because he’s “done the job before.” Sayles was chief in Beloit, Wisconsin, a city of 36,000. Barnes, who also came to Seattle from Wisconsin, brought Sayles to the department. Just like Barnes, Sayles’ family lives in Illinois, and he has not taken the extraordinary step of moving to Seattle. To show his deep commitment to community policing, Sayles lives in East King County. But his wife visits often. That’s a start?

Goof: An out-of-service light rail train derailed near the Chinatown/ International District late Saturday night. Service resumed Sunday afternoon. No passengers were aboard and no injuries were reported. This is only the second light rail derailment of its kind.

Weather: Not fire, so be thankful. It’ll be sunny and 75 today. The week will heat up to the high 80s by Thursday. Air quality is expected to worsen as the day goes on.

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