Air Quality & Wildfire News — August 2, 2026

It's a rough weekend for wildfire smoke on both sides of the Atlantic. A fast-growing fire east of Spokane, Washington sent thousands fleeing their homes, while Greece, France, and Spain are each dealing with their own active fire fronts.

Fast-moving fire forces thousands to evacuate near Spokane

The Old Trails Fire started around midday Saturday near Airway Heights, west of Spokane, and grew quickly under strong winds and high heat, as CBS News reports. It burned brush and grass before spreading toward residential neighborhoods, crossing the Spokane River and threatening thousands of buildings in the area.

By Saturday evening the fire had burned close to 3,000 acres with zero containment, and officials said multiple homes and structures had been lost, though the full extent of the damage wasn't yet known. Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a state of emergency and a statewide burn ban, and the National Weather Service issued its first-ever "Particularly Dangerous Situation" red flag warning for the state, Forbes notes. Across Washington, more than 200,000 acres are burning in a dozen large fires. A veterans' hospital and a water treatment plant were evacuated, and a shelter opened at Spokane Falls Community College for displaced residents. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. If you're in the Spokane area, thick smoke means it's a good day to keep windows closed and limit time outdoors.

Greece's wildfires threaten Athens's edges and a tourist island

Greek firefighters spent Sunday battling a large wildfire that has already destroyed more than 100 homes northwest of Athens, while a separate blaze forced evacuations on the tourist island of Kefalonia, NBC News reports. The fire near Porto Germeno, on the Gulf of Corinth about 40 miles northwest of Athens, crossed a mountain and reached the settlement of Veniza and a military firing range. Nearly 500 Greek firefighters, reinforced by crews from France and Romania, are working to keep the fire from reaching the coastal town of Megara.

Gale-force winds also drove flames deeper into western Attica, the region surrounding the Greek capital, prompting fresh evacuations and preventing firefighting aircraft from drawing water from the sea, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Two firefighters died battling a blaze on Crete earlier in the week, and a third was killed in a separate fire in the Peloponnese.

France and Spain get a break after a brutal stretch

There's some better news elsewhere in Europe. In France, a fire that has burned across roughly 420 square kilometers — an area about four times the size of Paris — remains contained, with only minor flare-ups reported in the Gironde and Var regions over the weekend, according to the same NBC News and AJC reporting. In Spain, major wildfires that had been burning for days are no longer advancing. Thousands of people displaced by these fires remain out of their homes while cleanup and recovery work continues.

Sources

Fast-moving wildfire in Washington state prompts evacuations — CBS News
The Wildfire Disaster Unfolding In Spokane, Washington — Forbes
Greece battles wildfires, Hungary shuts nuclear power plant due to drought — NBC News
From Athens to Bordeaux, Europe's deadly wildfire emergency rages on — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Canairy aggregates publicly reported air-quality and wildfire news and summarizes it in plain English, with links to the original sources. This is educational information, not medical or emergency advice. In a wildfire or air-quality emergency, follow guidance from local authorities.