SPOKANE — The wildfires in eastern Washington began in early August 2026 and forced 60,000 people to evacuate. The fires destroyed an estimated 920 structures across the region.

Spokane Public Schools reported that 169 students and 38 staff members lost their homes in the wildfires. Twenty students in the Nine Mile Falls school district also lost their homes during the event.

Spokane Public Schools collaborated with national nonprofits, local churches, and small businesses to offer free day camps to families affected by the fires within a day of the event. The district also opened a high school as a resource center offering donated food, toiletries, and assistance with filing insurance claims.

Project:Camp is a nonprofit organization that establishes free day camps in the wake of disasters. The organization has operated 33 post-disaster camps in 10 states since 2021.

Mikey Latner, cofounder of Project:Camp, said the Covid pandemic highlighted the importance of childcare and schools to communities, society and the economy. He noted that the response built on lessons learned during previous global disruptions.

Project:Camp served hundreds of children at two locations in Spokane over three weeks before closing to prepare school buildings for the start of the semester. A second camp was set up at Lake Spokane Elementary in the Nine Mile Falls School District.

More than 100 children checked in for the day at the Lake Spokane Elementary location two weeks after the fire. The camp featured activities such as laser tag, therapy dogs, and feeding live buffalo.

Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, the performer for the Sesame Street character Abby Cadabby, appeared at the Lake Spokane Elementary camp location. Campers at the Spokane disaster response camps performed a 'me check' in the morning by holding up fingers from one to 10 to indicate their energy levels.

Latner said one of the key tenets is returning kids to a sense of safety and normalcy and routine, reestablishing relationships, and that the organization focuses on those kinds of moments throughout the day.

Laurie Morrison, Chief Academic Officer of Spokane Public Schools, described the district's actions as a necessary response to student needs. Morrison said that as an educator, she feels it is the district's moral imperative to stand in the gap to offer even the slightest ease to the burden of students and their families facing unimaginable devastation and to support their wellbeing, calling it an easy answer to the question of who should step in if not the district.

Why It Matters

The collaboration between a public school district and a specialized nonprofit provided immediate childcare and routine for thousands of displaced residents. The wildfires displaced 60,000 people and destroyed an estimated 920 structures, creating an urgent need for stable environments for children. The camps operated for three weeks, serving hundreds of children before the start of the new school semester.

This response showed the role of educational institutions in disaster recovery beyond academic instruction. The effort involved coordination with local churches, small businesses, and national nonprofits. There is no indication in the provided sources that Spokane Public Schools or Project:Camp have previously launched similar free day camps for children displaced by wildfires at this location or to this operator.

Timeline

Wildfires in eastern Washington began in early August 2026. The wildfires forced 60,000 people to evacuate. The wildfires destroyed an estimated 920 structures.

Mareesha Backman evacuated her family from Spokane due to wildfires in August 2026. Mareesha Backman’s family evacuated for nine days and stayed in a travel trailer on a Christmas tree farm in Idaho. Twenty students in the Nine Mile Falls school district lost their homes in the wildfires. Campers at the Spokane disaster response camps perform a 'me check' in the morning by holding up fingers from one to 10 to indicate their energy levels.

What's New

Additional reporting confirmed that Spokane Public Schools and Project:Camp launched free day camps for children displaced by the August 2026 wildfires within a day of the disaster, with the first camp opening on August 3, 2026, at Shadle Park High School in Spokane, Washington. A second camp was also set up at Lake Spokane Elementary in the Nine Mile Falls School District, which served hundreds of children over the course of three weeks before shutting down to prepare for the start of the semester. Jeff Baerwald, superintendent of the Nine Mile Falls School District, described Spokane Public Schools as 'ambulance chasers for the good' due to their rapid response to the disaster. Spokane Public Schools is a School District in Spokane, Washington. There is no information in the provided sources about an investigation or an investigative body related to the free day camps launched by Spokane Public Schools and Project:Camp in response to the August 2026 wildfires. There is no information in the provided sources about an inspection, license, or enforcement history related to the free day camps launched by Spokane Public Schools and Project:Camp in response to the August 2026 wildfires.