Kitty Klitzke's evacuation account"It was not a successful evacuation to have people watching flames beside their cars, sitting there for three hours."
Roads & Safety
Road capacity, evacuation delays, and the questions raised in Spokane's public meetings.
Evacuation experience and warnings
Kitty Klitzke's evacuation account
Christopher Savage on evacuation-plan requests"[Neighborhood councils] all have requested evacuation plans, not just last year, not the year before that, several years now."
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Growth and evacuation access
Chris Coppen on evacuation traffic and new housing"My concern is that the comp plan seems to look for increased density and housing on Assembly."
Kitty Klitzke on development and evacuation access"We're not even necessarily requiring easements through those properties, let alone roads be built."
Development and evacuation-route requirements"If there's a large plat coming in, it's required that it contributes to the evacuation routes in some sort of measurable way."
Linda Carroll on housing growth along evacuation routes"The future land use map … introduces new or increased housing density near fire prone areas that are also near or along one or more critical evacuation routes."
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Highway 2 and missing transportation analysis
Greg Figg on Highway 2 and missing transportation analysis"Highway 2, the primary east-west route, is reaching failure at the busier intersections, which was actually confirmed in the DEIS. It also services access to Fairchild Air Force Base."
Jesse Bank on West Plains traffic concerns"I would just love to ask staff if there's any comment in response to any of those questions."
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What the reporting adds
The Spokesman-Review found that several neighborhoods can be forced onto the same few roads during an evacuation. Fire, traffic, gates, and dead ends can leave people with even fewer ways out.
'We're lucky': Penned in, Spokane evacuees narrowly avoided catastropheBy Emry Dinman · September 13, 2026 · Access may be limited