MEDICAL LAKE, Wash. — Medical Lake community members gathered this week to provide input on how $44 million in disaster relief funds from Spokane County should be allocated as the city continues rebuilding from the devastating Gray Fire of 2023.
The public outreach meeting, organized by the Spokane Region Long-Term Recovery Group and Spokane County Housing & Community Development Department, drew dozens of residents who are still working to recover from the wildfire that left lasting scars on both the landscape and the community.
Driving through Medical Lake today, charred forests and debris serve as stark reminders that the city is still picking up the pieces from the 2023 disaster. Many residents said they continue to need assistance with their recovery.
Mike Gerry, who lost his shop in the fire, attended the meeting hoping to learn more about how the money could be spent.
“I want to know where every penny of that’s going, because my neighbors in our community lost way more than I did,” Gerry said.
While Gerry’s home was spared, the fire destroyed much of his property, including his shop that contained decades of personal memories from college, military service and sports memorabilia.
“We lost my shop, you know? Which, it was just a shop, but it was everything that was in it. It’s everything from my college, like sports, my military, my everything. Every memory that I ever had was in that shop,” he said.
Others like Meribeth Phipps are still dealing with housing challenges more than a year after the fire. Phipps currently splits her time between living at her mother’s house and in a shed on her property.
“[We need] some accountability on where the money has been spent. I think there’s a lot of questions in the community on that,” Phipps said.
She said fire-related expenses have created significant financial strain.
“I’ve had a lot of credit card debt as a result of the fire, and I could have put a lot of that money towards those bills, but I put it towards a septic system, and I don’t have the money to build a house now,” Phipps said.
During the meeting, attendees participated in a live survey designed to help Spokane County identify the area’s most urgent recovery needs. The feedback will inform how the disaster relief funds are distributed.
Medical Lake Mayor Terri Cooper outlined several priorities for future recovery efforts, including building additional housing, contracting new case managers to assist residents and applying for additional grants to supplement the existing funding.
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