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There will be a community meeting TONIGHT, August 23, at 7:00 p.m. at the Medical Lake High School - 200 E Barker St. Medical Lake, WA 99022.  Representatives from local agencies and Northwest Team 7 will be sharing updates about the fire, its impacts, and next steps. 

As community members return to the fire area, please be respectful of the evacuation levels and potential hazards. Be mindful of high fire traffic in the area and use caution while traveling in or near the recently downgraded evacuation levels.

Increased winds today will raise the potential of smoldering fuels to reignite. In an emergency, call 911.

Today’s Activities: The fire area received over a quarter of an inch of rainfall, helping suppression efforts to increase containment to 48%. Firefighters continue mopping up the fire perimeter. Crews are also securing structure perimeters and assessing burned structures for potential hazards. Firefighters are monitoring the fire’s edge near unburned areas to reduce the chances of fire spreading. 

Weather: A cold front has passed through earlier this morning, bringing increased winds today with gusts up to 25mph. A warming and drying trend will begin, carrying over into the weekend with temperatures increasing into the 90s.

Evacuations: Spokane County Emergency Management further reduced evacuation levels in Medical Lake. Level 3 continues for west of Silver Lake, south to the end of Greenfield Ln, west to the end of Genni Rock and Page Pond and 1/4 mile North of Lakehurst/Lakeview. Evacuation maps are posted on the Gray Fire Inciweb page and the Spokane County’s Emergency Management Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GEGEmergencyMgt.   

Interstate 90: I-90 has opened in both directions. State Route (SR) 904 and 902 are also open.   

The Gray Fire Incident Command Post will be moving to Pine Lodge in Medical Lake today. NW Team 7 appreciates Cheney Middle School for being generous hosts for fire personnel and wishes all incoming students a successful school year. 

ADDITIONAL FIRE & EMERGENCY INFORMATION:   

Gray Fire Information:  

Phone: 509-903-5563, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.  

Inciweb:  https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-information/wanes-gray-fire 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newfireinfo 

Washington Smoke Blog: https://wasmoke.blogspot.com/  

Spokane County Emergency Management (evacuations and pets & livestock concerns): https://www.facebook.com/GEGEmergencyMgt 

Local Red Cross Support: https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation.html 

WA DOT Highway Updates: https://wsdot.com/Travel/Real-time/Map/ 

Avista: https://www.myavista.com/outages 

Inland Power: https://www.inlandpower.com/outages-emergencies