Wildfire season is changing. Spokane is showing how.

A trio of wildfires tore through the Spokane Valley over the weekend, destroying more than seven hundred buildings by Monday afternoon and forcing tens of thousands to evacuate. Red Cross shelters have opened in the city, including one inside the Spokane Convention Center, and officials say the winding, limited-access layout of the affected neighborhoods slowed both evacuations and firefighting response. Grist reports the fires arrived amid Washington's most destructive fire season on record, with more than half a million acres burned statewide and a snowpack that melted early after a historically dry winter. As of Tuesday, city council member Kitty Klitzke said no deaths or missing people had been reported, though officials are bracing for the season to worsen.

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