Throughout the summer of 2026, communities in eastern Washington State endured some of the most destructive wildfires in state history, together destroying about 883,000 acres of land and at least 700 structures, and forcing roughly 67,000 people to evacuate.
In response, United Methodist Early Response Team members, pastors and church congregants in the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference mobilized quickly. With support from UMCOR, they distributed relief supplies and gas gift cards to wildfire survivors, assisted with personal property retrieval and provided a caring presence for impacted families, and coordinated with UMCOR staff to train new disaster case managers local to the area. And in September, fifteen “Suncase 2425” solar suitcases were distributed in Spokane to support wildfire recovery efforts.