In 2024, the Spokane Community Resilience Collaborative (SCRC) committed in its Strategic Plan to create and implement city-wide extreme heat and wildfire smoke resilience plans before summer of 2025. The goal of these plans is to foster a more coordinated and proactive approach to building community resilience in Spokane. The plans are not the sole responsibility of any one entity, but rather a demonstration of community collaboration with the aim of empowering all interested organizations to play their own unique role based on their strengths and relationships.
Spokane Extreme Heat Resilience Plan
The need for an extreme heat resilience plan was made clear by the 2021 Northwest Heat Dome, the most deadly weather-related event in Washington State history. In 2023 community leaders at the extreme heat symposium specifically identified the need for a collaborative city-wide planning effort related to extreme heat. (For more on this, see "Building Community Resilience to Extreme Heat: Lessons Learned from Spokane Wa Community Conversations" (2024).)
Staff of the Institute's Climate Resilience Project started preliminary research for this plan in winter of 2023, and research continued through the fall of 2024, at which point the plan moved to the drafting phase and was regularly reviewed and workshopped by SCRC members. The contents of this plan have been informed by countless hours of academic research and community engagement as well as extensive input from community leaders representing their organizations through SCRC. The inaugural plan was publicly shared on this page on June 18, 2025 (v. 1.0).
As a living document, the Spokane Extreme Heat Resilience Plan will continue to evolve, with regular updates based on new and evolving data, community feedback, and emerging best practices. Moving forward, SCRC is committed to refining and expanding the plan, trusting both experts and our community to help fill in the gaps and ensure it remains relevant and effective in protecting the Spokane community from the impacts of extreme heat.
Read the plan here!
Interested in making the Spokane Extreme Heat Resilience Plan a reality? We want to hear from you!
If your organization has a vision for involvement in the plan or just wants to chat about possibilities, please fill out this form with your information: Collaboration Interest Form
If you are a Spokane resident who would like to provided feedback on the plan, please complete this form: General Public Feedback Form
Spokane Wildfire Smoke Resilience Plan
As the Climate Institute carried out community-engaged research around extreme heat in Spokane, it became evident that wildfire smoke resilience was a key part of the conversation that was missing. Often times extreme heat and wildfire smoke events happen at the same time, and an attempt to stay safe from one can impact your ability to stay safe from another (for example, opening your windows to cool down your home could let in polluted air). According to the Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency, since 2014, Spokane has experienced a 353% increase in days when the Air Quality Index (AQI) value is considered "unhealthy for sensitive groups" or worse. And according to the Washington State Department of Ecology, Spokane residents live an average 2.4 years fewer than other Washingtonians because of the impact of poor air quality.
For these reasons, the Spokane Extreme Heat Resilience Plan and Spokane Wildfire Smoke Resilience Plan were developed in tandem. The inaugural Spokane Wildfire Smoke Resilience Plan was publicly shared on this page on August 5, 2025 (v. 1.0).
As a living document, the Spokane Wildfire Smoke Resilience Plan will continue to evolve, with regular updates based on new and evolving data, community feedback, and emerging best practices. Moving forward, SCRC is committed to refining and expanding the plan, trusting both experts and our community to help fill in the gaps and ensure it remains relevant and effective in protecting the Spokane community from the impacts of extreme heat.
Read the plan here!
Interested in making the Spokane Wildfire Smoke Resilience Plan a reality? We want to hear from you!
If your organization has a vision for involvement in the plan or just wants to chat about possibilities, please fill out this form with your information: Collaboration Interest Form
If you are a Spokane resident who would like to provided feedback on the plan, please complete this form: General Public Feedback Form