“Welcome back, Spokane”: Chiefs pay tribute to community impacted by August fires

Spokane, Wash. — “Welcome back, Spokane  — and welcome home.”

Those words echoed through the Numerica Veterans Arena on Saturday night as the Spokane Chiefs and their fans reunited with a new sense of closeness, while nursing the still-stinging emotional wounds of a summer that changed the very landscape of the city.

The community is healing after an August that saw the Spokane area fires raze nearly 369,000 acres of land, destroying 649 primary residences, damaging another 2,542 homes and forcing more than 65,000 people to evacuate.

Chiefs Director of Sponsorships Brian Cobb is one of the people who lost his home.

“We were on full evacuation, backing out of our driveway, saw a fire in our side yard,” Cobb recalled. “There was about 40 minutes there to pack some stuff up. Went quick for sure. It went from (the fire) on the other side of the river to the ‘go now’ evacuation alerts, all the emergency stuff, within about 30 minutes. The fire was on our property 10 minutes after that or so.”

Cobb recalls seeing first responders and the local bus authority moving quickly to evacuate people living in assisted living facilities and other folks with mobility issues, and watching the mass exodus of vehicles from the city on both sides of a usually-busy five-lane road.

More than a month later, Cobb and his family are still living in a rental as they navigate insurance and lay out the plans to clear debris from their property and build a new house.

He isn’t the only person working with the Chiefs who has been impacted, but he’s mainly happy that no lives were lost during the emergency.

“At the end of the day, stuff is stuff,” Cobb added. “People are what’s most important, and everyone’s safe. Now, we just rebuild.”

For returning players like Nathan Mayes, who has been with the team since he was 15 years old, it’s been difficult to see the depth of the destruction.

The Salmon Arm, B.C. product watched the emergency response unfold online, while his fiancée, Clara, was in the thick of rescue efforts.

“She was just working down here, so she was very much involved,” Mayes said. “She was helping one of her good friends’ grandparents evacuate from their house, and like they were kind of in the middle of the fires there, so it was pretty scary.”

As the area rebuilds, Washington State Governor Bob Ferguson has requested that the American federal government formally declare a major disaster and requested two types of FEMA Public Assistance Funds in hopes of unlocking millions of dollars of assistance to support impacted people, aid cleanup efforts and recover costs from the initial emergency response.

One man had been indicted on charges of arson in connection with the blaze.

As the Chiefs’ home opener drew closer, the team knew they had an opportunity to provide a sense of normalcy and escape for fans.

Spokane offered free tickets to people impacted by the fires, with more than 350 people taking advantage of the program.

All told, 9,057 people attended the September 26 match, marking the highest attendance for a Chiefs home opener since the 2011-12 season.

During a pregame ceremony, the team aired a tribute video in conjunction with local station KXLY, before people who were displaced, neighbours, first responders, and volunteers rose to their feet.

“When you’re out there, and you look in the crowd and see how many people it affected, it’s really sad to see that that happened to such a great city,” Mayes said. “We just hope that the Chiefs can help out in any way that we can.”

The 20-year-old did his part by burying the game-winning goal in an electric 3-2 win over the Tri-City Americans, capping off a night of recognition and, in some ways, relief.

“It’s a good trigger for them (fans) to remember,” Cobb said. “They’re like, ‘Oh, this stuff is still here. We can still go do these things with our friends and family in the community. There are still concerts and shows and dinner. It’s easy when you’re in the midst of going through all the logistics of dealing with insurance or moving or all that, to feel overwhelmed and forget to do those things. I hope people took a second to practice a little self-care and have some fun and just kind of let loose a little bit… And watch us beat the Tri-City Americans.”

The path ahead for the city is long, but the Chiefs hope they’ll continue to provide an exciting and familiar environment as time marches on.

Spokane is eagerly eyeing a return to the WHL Championship Series after coming just short of capturing their third league title in team history in 2025.

Mayes and company will hit the highway for a three-game road trip against Portland and Everett before returning home to host the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday, October 9.