Data Collection

August 2026

University of Washington researchers from the Center for Disaster Resilient Communities and the EDGE Center for Environmental Assessment Core are partnering with the Gonzaga Climate Institute to collect environmental samples in the City of Spokane. They are deploying sensors from the NSF/NIH-funded RAPID center to provide repeated one-week air samples at fixed locations to determine whether particle levels and composition change as cleanup progresses, during windy periods, or as other activities disturb fire debris. The samples can be stored and later tested for metals and other substances. These composition measures can also help make sense of other real-time air quality data.

Context: After the Los Angeles fires of 2025, elevated airborne metals were found in some fire-affected areas, suggesting that wind and cleanup activities can stir ash and debris back into the air. This may be especially important in Spokane, where the median building age is about 1954 and many homes were built before lead-based paint was banned. The goal is for these measurements to be useful locally. All data and findings will be shared back with participating communities and with the broader research community.

The University of Washington RAPID Facility is undertaking this environmental sampling and aerial imaging effort to collect fundamental data on the Spokane Area Fires and their impacts on the surrounding community. This work is intended to build a foundational, shared dataset that the broader research and practice communities can draw on to understand both the immediate and longer-term effects of the fires, including impacts on air quality, environmental contamination, and community health.

All data collected through this effort will be openly available and shared without restriction to any particular research group or institution, so that it can be of use to the broader research and practice communities, not research alone. Understanding what happened during and after this event, comprehensively and collaboratively, is critical to informing how similar impacts might be reduced or prevented in future wildfire events.

Learn more.