Numerous new wildfires across the region; Lyons Ferry fire pouring smoke into Spokane

Lightning and New Wildfires

Numerous new wildfires have been ignited by lightning in the last few days, particularly across eastern Oregon and Washington where fuel (vegetation) conditions are very dry and receptive to fire. While thunderstorm chances are now diminishing, additional new fires may continue to emerge in the days ahead as warm, dry weather continues and intensifies into next week.

The largest and most active fires in Washington right now appear to be the Lyons Ferry fire (~30,000 acres), the Royal Lake fire (~12,000 acres), and the Kaiser Canyon fire (~2,200 acres). Keep in mind that, with the rapidly evolving situation, acreage numbers may not be fully accurate on these incidents.

Large wildfires in Oregon and Washington as of Friday morning, July 17, 2026. Many of these fires are new in the last couple days. Data via the DNR Wildfire Intel Dashboard.

Roughly 5,000 lightning strikes have occurred in Washington since Tuesday, many of them occurring with little or no rainfall. Data courtesy National Lightning Detection Network by Vaisala, processed by Iowa Environmental Mesonet. 

Smoke and Air Quality

Eastern Washington woke up to widespread smoke, with the Spokane area in particular getting hammered by smoke from the Lyons Ferry fire. Air quality readings in Spokane have been VERY UNHEALTHY to even HAZARDOUS at times Friday morning. 

GOES satellite imagery at 7 am (Friday July 17).

The air quality index at Liberty Lake (Spokane metro) monitoring station has climbed into HAZARDOUS Friday morning. Data via WA Dept. of Ecology.

As a result, Air Quality Alerts have been issued from now through at least Sunday morning for Spokane, Adams, Whitman, and Lincoln counties. Alerts could be expanded to other areas as the smoke situation evolves. As a reminder, the blog has multiple resources linked on how you can stay safe during periods of wildfire smoke.

Looking Ahead

Through the weekend, wind patterns favor onshore flow and south or southwest winds across eastern Washington. While the air quality in western WA and the Cascades will remain GOOD because of this onshore flow from the Pacific Ocean, areas to the north and east of existing and emerging incidents in eastern Washington and Oregon will experience continued periods of smoke. 

Exact smoke concentrations and locations of worst smoke are difficult to predict with confidence because of the rapidly evolving wildfire situation, not just in Washington but because of the dynamic fire situation in eastern Oregon. If eastern Oregon fires continue to grow, smoke impacts could deteriorate further in south-central and southeastern WA (Tri-Cities, Walla Walla, Pullman). 

Fire weather conditions will also remain elevated into next week, and firefighting resources are beginning to get stretched thin, which could lead to additional fire growth on active incidents. The bottom line: stay tuned to your local air quality by visiting fire.airnow.gov -- and we will post another update on Monday.