Nearly three months after the Spokane Complex Fire destroyed or damaged roughly 1,000 homes across eastern Washington, hundreds of displaced families are caught in a policy dispute between Governor Bob Ferguson and the Washington State Building Code Council over whether energy efficiency standards should be relaxed to speed up and lower the cost of rebuilding.

The Conflict

Governor Ferguson has been pushing the Building Code Council to amend residential energy codes for people rebuilding homes destroyed by wildfires — arguing that current energy code requirements add tens of thousands of dollars in costs and months of delays to reconstruction projects, placing an undue burden on families already devastated by the fires.

The Council, however, has resisted full-scale code rollbacks. A recent council report concluded: "While the State Building Code Council considered blanket code rollback and more targeted relief, it does not yet support waiver of a specific current code provision for wildfire recovery." The Council has indicated it may consider more narrowly targeted amendments but is reluctant to set a precedent by broadly exempting disaster rebuilds from current standards.

The dispute has exposed a tension that communities across the West are increasingly grappling with: how to balance long-term resilience goals — including energy efficiency that reduces utility costs and carbon emissions — with the immediate need to house displaced residents quickly and affordably.

Spokane County Property Tax Relief

While the code debate plays out, Spokane County has moved ahead with other forms of relief. Spokane County Assessor Tom Konis and Treasurer Mike Volz announced this week that reduced property assessments have been completed for owners of homes destroyed or damaged in the Spokane Complex fires, and that tax adjustments are being processed. Property owners affected by the Oregon Road and Gray fires from previous years are also part of ongoing $44 million recovery discussions that have drawn public criticism over delays.

At a community meeting this month, officials and residents confronted a central question: why has $44 million in allocated wildfire recovery money taken so long to reach the people who need it? The meeting laid bare the complexity of post-disaster federal funding flows, which often involve multiple layers of grant administration, environmental review, and compliance requirements before dollars reach local communities.

Fire-Resistant Rebuilding: A Middle Path?

Some housing and fire policy experts have suggested that the rebuilding debate is an opportunity to not just restore what was lost, but to build back smarter — using fire-resistant construction techniques, ember-resistant venting, and defensible space standards that could protect new homes from future fires.

The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety and the National Fire Protection Association both publish standards for Wildfire Prepared Home construction. Advocates argue that requiring these standards in rebuilds — rather than relaxing codes — could ultimately reduce insurance costs and save lives, even if it adds some upfront construction cost.

Washington's ongoing code debate is being watched closely by Oregon, California, and other western states, which face similar questions about whether and how to expedite rebuilding while also improving fire resilience in wildland-urban interface communities.

What Homeowners Need to Know

Homeowners in the Spokane area whose properties were affected by the summer fires should:

  • Contact the Spokane County Assessor's office to confirm their property tax adjustment has been processed.
  • Register with the state's disaster recovery portal for updates on available assistance programs.
  • Connect with their local building department to understand current permit requirements before beginning any reconstruction.
  • Consult with their insurance carrier early in the process, as some policies have provisions that affect compliance requirements for rebuilt structures.