Rooted After Fire — Wildfire Stories and Recovery Community

Rooted After Fire is a free community platform created during the August 2026 Spokane Area Fires. It gives wildfire survivors, neighbors, and families a place to share their stories, preserve memories, and find practical guidance for recovery. The platform is open to anyone affected by wildfire — whether you lost a home, evacuated, helped a neighbor, or are still navigating the long road back to stability.

Wildfire recovery is not a single event — it is a months-long or years-long process that touches every part of life. Finding temporary housing, filing an insurance claim, clearing hazardous ash and debris, supporting children through trauma, and deciding whether to rebuild are all decisions survivors face, often without a clear roadmap. Rooted After Fire was built to help. It collects real community experience, curated editorial guidance, and links to verified official resources so that no one has to navigate recovery alone.

Ember Stories

The Ember Stories section is the heart of the platform. Community members write firsthand accounts of their wildfire experience — what they lost, how they evacuated, what helped them most in the days and weeks that followed, and how recovery is going. Stories can be shared publicly to help others or kept private. Reading stories from neighbors who have been through the same fires can reduce isolation, validate emotions, and surface practical knowledge that no official guide captures. If you have a story to tell, we encourage you to share it.

Recovery Tips & Guides

Recovery Tips & Guides offers two types of content. Quick tips are short, focused pieces of practical advice organized by recovery topic — prepare, evacuate, protect documents, return home safely, handle smoke and ash, manage emotional recovery, support children, help neighbors, clean up, rebuild, and navigate insurance. Each tip links to official sources where available and notes whether it comes from verified official guidance, editorial review, or community experience.

In-depth guides walk through complex situations step by step. They are longer, structured articles written for people who need to understand not just what to do but why, what to watch out for, and what options they have. All twelve guides are available free without an account.

Local Resources

The Resources page lists vetted local and regional organizations that provide direct assistance to wildfire survivors in the Spokane area and Eastern Washington. Categories include emergency housing and shelter, financial assistance, insurance help, mental health services, rebuilding permits and contractors, animal and livestock support, legal aid, and donation and supply drives. Resources are linked to official program pages and updated as information changes.

About Rooted After Fire

Rooted After Fire was founded in Spokane, Washington in response to the August 2026 wildfire emergency. It is a community project, not a government agency, nonprofit, relief fund, emergency alert service, or emergency dispatch service. For active evacuation information and emergency orders, always follow the Spokane Regional Emergency Communications (SREC) evacuation map and your local authorities. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. Learn more on the About page.