Listeners, meet new SPR reporters Lisa Leinberger and Audrey Nelson

From Spokane Public Radio, it's SPR News Today. I'm Doug Nad Vornick. This is Thursday, August 13, 2026. Spokane heads into its post-wildfire recovery period. The disaster assistance center that was open for a week has closed its doors, and people are headed home to view the damage. They're picking up supplies from the Red Cross to protect themselves. We'll also look at some of the other fires burning around Washington and introduce you to two new voices here at Spokane Public Radio. These stories and more coming up on SPR News Today. Spokane's Disaster Assistance Center at Shaddle Park High School has closed its doors, but some participants say they will continue to offer services. For example, the Red Cross says it will have volunteers available to help wildfire survivors. It's looking for more volunteers. You can inquire at red cross.org. The Christian nonprofit group Samaritan's Purse is looking for people who want to help wildfire affected homeowners recover their lost or damaged belongings. The organization has set up a Spokane base at Life Center Church on Government Way. At a community forum in Meade this week, Sheriff John Knowles urged people not to hesitate if they need help. Probably the most important thing you can do for yourself as a victim. is to get in contact with the long-term recovery group who will have people assigned to you, almost like a social worker, but a caseworker for this really arduous process, that will help you navigate. this whole process of recovery. The Washington Insurance Commissioner's Office will sponsor a wildfire claims workshop next Monday at Spokane Falls Community College. That will start in Building 24 at 1 p.m. As displaced residents are returning to their homes this week, the Red Cross is distributing personal protective equipment and tools that those who lost everything may need to sift through the rubble. The organization has sent out vans in devastated neighborhoods. This week, they're stopping at homes that have burned. They're dropping off shovels and rakes and sifters. They leave blue bins filled with gloves, masks, water bottles, and eyedrops, as well as a variety of other items. Red Cross worker Diane D. Bernardino was in the area of Wind River Drive yesterday just off of 9-mile road. We've dropped off these thousands of bins and sifters. So when the homeowner comes back... It's there waiting for them. And we've had some of them show up. This place was just opened up, I think, yesterday. They finally lifted the order for people to get in. So not everybody is back yet. But we'll leave them a rake and a shovel.

stuff they need to start. Dee Bernardino says the crews are going to be out for at least the next few days, stopping in neighborhoods with damage. You can look for the white vans with large red crosses on them. For a comprehensive guide to cleaning up after a wildfire, you can visit the after a wildfire part of the Spokane Regional Health District website or go to the city of Spokane's website at my.spokanecity.org. U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum came to Spokane yesterday to see the damage caused by the major Spokane fires. He was joined by Washington U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, the head of Washington's National Guard, and other dignitaries. They talked about the need for the federal government to declare the area as a major disaster area. Washington is already collecting some short-term federal relief money, but state officials say more will be needed to help Spokane with rebuilding. also talked about how to change federal policies to lower the chances that future fires cause damage to urban areas. One logistics note, tonight's community meeting that was planned a brief residence about the Spokane fires has been canceled. It was scheduled for 6 p.m. at Shaddle Park High School. The last of the meetings was held last night at Mead High School. And as we said earlier, the disaster assistance center at Shadle Park is now closed. Evacuation shelters for those who lost their homes are not ready to go. back are still open at the convention center in Spokane at a Jenkins high school in Chihuahua and the animal shelter and RV grounds at the Spokane County Fairgrounds remain open as well. These Spokane fires are all nearly fully contained, and crews are also making progress on some of the more established fires in Washington, three of which have burned more than 100,000 acres. The largest of the three is the Sin Leheican, which is burning west of Tanasket in Okanagan County. It has covered nearly 154,000 acres and is a little more than a third contained. Officials say they're making nice progress all around the fire's perimeter. They say the weather helped yesterday by bringing in air that was... a bit more humid. The Kaiser Canyon fire near Nes Pellum is now nearly three quarters contained. It's the second largest in the state at 138,000 acres. And fire officials say lightning touched down yesterday at the northern end of the third largest, the little giant fire burning in both Okinawagon and Chelan counties. It has burned about 127,000 acres and is about 5% contained. One of the more active fires is the three queens in Kittitas County, which continues to grow in size. It's burning 3,300 acres. The flames now straddling both sides of the northern end of Lake Cachis. That's the popular recreation area just east of Snowquamie Pass. Many areas of the Okinawanaug and Wenatchee National Forest are closed to the public, including a 50-mile stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail along the King and Kittitas County line. At a community meeting in Cleellum this week, Nancy Barker, the head of air operations for the fire. firefighting team said planes and helicopters have dropped more than a quarter million gallons of water. So there's a lot of water going on the fire. Again, I'm buying time for those firefighters to get into there and do the job and put the fire out. Thunderstorms are predicted for the remainder of the week along the eastern cascade slopes.

I'm Doug Nad Vornick here with two of my new colleagues, Audrey Nelson and Lisa Lineberger, both reporters. We start with Lisa. I am from Spokane, Washington. My family moved here when I was four. I attended Spokane schools. I went to Ferris High School. I went to Eastern Washington University, where I achieved a degree in journalism. So what made you want to get into journalism? You know, it was funny. I really enjoyed writing a lot. in college, but I took a class on what your next job is going to be, what you should major in at Eastern. And I hadn't really done much with it. And the teacher was like, drilling us all as to what we're going to major in, and I didn't know, but the first thing that popped into my head when she got to me was journalism. She said, okay, here's who you talk to. And I'm like, okay, and I got in, and I loved it. It was so much fun. I got to talk to people. I got to go different places and see different things that I ordinarily wouldn't get to see. And you went to write for the Spokesman Review. What did you write about? Yeah, I wrote for the Voices section. It was Neighborhood News, came out once a week on Thursdays. I wrote for the Valley Voice. I covered a lot of education in the Valley. And basically anything that popped up during slow times in the summer, another colleague and I would write about. one-of-a-kind jobs. I wrote about people who pluck the stingers out of bees so that they can use them to help with people with allergies. I wrote about a lady who ran a goat farm and used their milk to make cheese and dairy products. That was a lot of fun too. Basically, I got to write about anything I wanted to and meet all the little corners of your neighborhood. find out what they're about. So you're now working here. Tell me why you wanted to work at Spokane Public Radio. Well, you know, at my last job, I learned how to do podcast and edit sound. And I really enjoyed that. And when it came time to look for a new job, I thought, you know, this would be fun. I could play with the sound again and edit sound again. And it'll combine with my first love of journalism, too. Okay. Audrey, you come from Western Washington, a little about yourself. I do, yeah. I grew up mostly on Bainbridge Island, Washington, and then lived in Seattle for a year and did freelance radio and print reporting there and just moved to Spokane this past week. So what attracted you to, the journalism field? Well, I've always been an NPR nerd specifically. I was one of those kids that would come home from school, lie on the floor, turn on NPR and listen. So I knew I loved the news and I knew I loved audio in particular. And then in college, I got into writing for a features magazine. And I also got involved with the school paper. I went to Wesleyan University and wrote and did a podcast for the Wesleyan Argus.

And at that point, I just really loved talking to people, learning as much as I could, and ended up getting a summer internship with the Kitsap Sun, which is a print paper and print and digital paper in Western Washington, and knew that was what I wanted to do. And as I asked Lisa, what was the allure to coming to Spokane and working in public radio here? I had visited Spokane a number of times and actually really liked the city from what I saw of it. So when I heard that there was an opportunity here within Washington, I got really excited that it was in a place I knew something about. It was in a place with a really diverse region of coverage. A lot of different things to talk about here, a lot of different people. And I wanted to stay in Washington. I wanted to do radio in Washington and talk to people here. And this was a great opportunity to do that. Audrey Nelson and Lisa Lineberger are new Spokane Public Radio reporters. We will introduce you to another new reporter in September. More on that later. As their voices become more familiar and the voice of Jordy Jay Jones, our new morning edition host, we will welcome your feedback of our basically all-new news staff. at news at kpbx.org. SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio reporting today was contributed by Lisa Lineberger, Gary Davis, and Doug Nad Vornick, today's host and producer. Thank you for listening. This is SBR News.