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Cloudy conditions kept temperatures mild throughout the afternoon yesterday, leading to minimal fire behavior and smoke production. Heavy fire traffic continues in and around the Gray Fire area. Please be respectful as community members return to homes and property.   

To help with the location of hotspots within the fire area, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS, or “drones”) are being utilized to locate areas of remaining heat. Use is coordinated with local air traffic control and require Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) clearance. Private drones should not be flown in or around fire areas, as any activity is a safety risk that can halt firefighting efforts.  

Today’s Activities: Firefighters are working to secure the remainder of the perimeter. Mop up operations continue today with use of handheld infrared and UAS systems assisting firefighters. Mop up is when firefighters extinguish or remove burning material and standing dead trees near the fire perimeter. They also work on extinguishing hot spots, or isolated spots of smoldering material located on or within the fire perimeter. Crews are also working along the interior of the fire to suppress hot spots, including near the I-90 corridor. 

Weather: The Gray Fire area will see temperatures in the 90s today through Sunday. Warmer temperatures will dry out fuels as humidity levels drop near 20%. Light NE winds are present with infrequent gusts up to 15 mph. 
 
Evacuations: Evacuation maps are posted on the Gray Fire Inciweb page and Spokane County’s Emergency Management Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GEGEmergencyMgt.    

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

  Reduce wildfire risk at home: www.dnr.wa.gov/wildfireprevention. 

Be wildfire aware! Avoid activities that can cause an accidental spark.  

https://www.readyforwildfire.org/prevent-wildfire. 

The Gray Fire is a No Drone Zone. Remember, if you fly, we can’t! https://www.faa.gov/uas/resources/community_engagement/no_drone_zone 

The Gray Fire Incident Command Post is located at Pine Lodge in Medical Lake. Thank you to the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services for allowing us to use these facilities. 

Gray Fire Information and Links 

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  

Interactive Evacuation Map: https://arcg.is/1z98v10 

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

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

Spokane Co. Emergency Management: 1121 W. Gardner Ave., Spokane; 509-477-3046 

https://www.spokanecounty.org/4579/Emergency-Management 

Red Cross: 315 W. Nora Ave., Spokane; 509-326-3330 

https://www.redcross.org/local/washington/get-help.html 

Avista Power & Gas: 1411 E. Mission Ave, Spokane; 800-227-9187 

https://www.myavista.com/outages/outage-faqs 

Inland Power: 10110 W. Hallett Rd, Spokane: 509-747-7151 

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

City of Medical Lake Public Utilities: 851 S. Lefevre St, 509-299-7715 

https://medical-lake.org/utilities/ 

WA Dept. of Social and Health Services: 877-501-2233 

https://www.dshs.wa.gov/esa/community-services-offices/community-services-office 

Spokane County Sheriff: 1100 W. Mallon Ave, Spokane; 509-477-2240 

https://www.spokanecounty.org/938/Sheriff-Services 

Spokane County Fire, Dist. 3: 10 S. Presley Dr, Spokane; 509-235-6645 

https://www.scfd3.org/