On Monday, Governor Bob Ferguson announced that he had submitted a letter to President Donald Trump asking for a federal major disaster declaration in the wake of a devastating wildfires across Eastern Washington in late July and early August.
The fires caused more than $188 million in damages, Ferguson said at a Monday press conference in Spokane. A major disaster declaration would open up an estimated $11.2 million in funds for individuals for Benton, Spokane, Stevens and Okanogan counties and the Spokane Tribe of Indians, and qualify the state for an additional $117.7 million in public assistance funds for debris cleanup and emergency costs across 11 counties. About 70% of affected county residents and Spokane tribal members were insured, he said.
A preliminary damage assessment by the Washington State Emergency Management Division, FEMA and local county jurisdictions showed that the fires had burned nearly 369,000 acres. Across the four counties, the fires destroyed 649 primary residences, with an additional 2,542 homes damaged, and forced more than 118,000 people to evacuate.
Ferguson credited Trump for “very quickly” granting the initial emergency declaration that allocated short-term federal resources for immediate response in the wake of the wildfires.
“But to be candid, the most significant request by far that any state has in a situation like this, that any community has in a situation like this, is the one that we're seeking today: a major disaster declaration,” he said.
How long will it take?
Over the past five years, across both the Biden and Trump administrations, the president has taken an average of 43 days to approve a request for aid from Washington, according to a RANGE analysis of FEMA data. This encompasses seven approved state declarations and three from tribal nations in Washington.
Approval for the 2023 Gray and Oregon Fires took more than four months. The state's 2025 floods — the most recent major disaster declaration in Washington — took two and a half months to be officially approved.
“I want to emphasize that each disaster declaration request from different states can have its own timeline,” Ferguson said Monday.
Ferguson pointed to how the state had received a major disaster declaration for the historic flooding that more than a dozen counties experienced last December.
He described the federal administration as "tremendously helpful" in past situations.
“I have had multiple communications with folks at the federal level and the administration and deeply appreciate the assistance they provided to us up to this point," Ferguson said.
Jeremy Fagan and his wife Kittie Blansfield lost their home just a couple blocks from Rifle Club Road and are hoping for the funding to come through.
If the disaster declaration is approved, they’re planning to apply for FEMA funds. Ferguson’s request asks for the maximum amount of $42,500 to be made available for FEMA’s Individual Assistance Program.
“I have a whole house to rebuild, so I'll probably apply for the maximum,” Fagan said.
Ferguson’s request detailed that nearly 900,000 acres had burned in Washington this year as of September 2. So far, the state has invested more than $150 million for wildfire response and recovery in 2026 and distributed nearly $1 million in assistance to more than 600 households thus far, according to a press release from Ferguson’s office.
Since 2021, FEMA has committed more than $214 million in approved individual assistance and obligated hazard mitigation and public assistance funding to Washington as the state has grappled with disasters like severe storms, flooding and wildfires.
However, outlets like the New York Times and the Associated Press have reported increased approval times for disaster assistance nationwide in recent months.
Dan Bisbee, the local district director for US Rep. Michael Baumgartner’s office, echoed Ferguson's message about how timelines for major disaster declarations can vary.
“There is no ticking clock for the feds to make this answer, but I think they’ve been well-informed about what we need here,” Bisbee said. “Congressman Baumgartner has a personal relationship with Secretary (of Homeland Security) Markwayne Mullin, so I think they’re well aware of it.”
If the declaration is granted, individuals will be able to apply directly with FEMA for assistance. Ferguson acknowledged that FEMA ultimately determines who receives funds, and that the state could not guarantee who receives funds.
However, the declaration would be “a lifeline” for thousands, Ferguson said.
Ferguson also announced additional state support for rebuilding, including energy code flexibility for homeowners and sales and use tax rebates for rebuilding costs.
FEMA funding would be significantly higher than what the state is able to offer victims, according to Karina Shagren, communications director for the Washington Military Department, which oversees the Emergency Management Division.
However, she noted that there are some eligibility differences between the two funding sources, as FEMA’s individual assistance cannot cover expenses already supported by other funding sources like insurance or crowdfunding, whereas the state will not take insurance or income levels into account.
“The homeowner could have been fully insured and they still would have been eligible to receive state individual assistance,” Shagren told RANGE.
For residents like Fagan and Blansfield, FEMA funding would play a significant part in rebuilding their lives.
Though the family has received money from insurance, the Karen Worthy Memorial Community Fund and money from the VA thanks to Fagan’s veteran status, they are being left to navigate an unexpectedly costly process that Blansfield described as feeling directionless.
“It’s just nickeling and diming us to death, trying to figure out what to do with our property and how to take care of it,” Blansfield said.
Blansfield said that they’ve also realized that cleanup comes with hidden costs that they didn’t expect to have to pay for. Fagan added that as soon as his insurance company and bank align, he will begin testing for asbestos and clearing the debris from his property before starting to rebuild.
To Fagan, FEMA support for cleanup would be “one of the most helpful things” they could receive.
“This is one of the scariest things I've ever approached,” Fagan said.
