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Spokane County, Washington · August 2026

The Spokane fires took the house. Don't let the paperwork take the contents.

The Old Trails, Autumn Lane, and Fairview fires destroyed roughly 700 structures across Spokane County starting August 1, 2026, with more than 65,000 people under evacuation orders. Hundreds of families are now facing the part nobody prepares for: proving, item by item, what was inside.

ValueRecovery builds court-defensible contents inventories for total-loss and partial-loss fire claims — reconstructed from whatever visual record survives, priced to live Like Kind & Quality market value, and delivered in 48 hours. We work directly with public adjusters, disaster attorneys, and restoration contractors handling Spokane-area files, and with homeowners who don't have representation yet.

Working Spokane files right now?

Send 20 photos from any active claim — or an existing line-item list — and we return a free sample deliverable in 48 hours. No commitment, no contract.

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What the fires destroyed

FireAreaScale
Old TrailsSpokane County~640 structures destroyed; 3,000+ acres
Autumn LaneSpokane County3,000+ acres
FairviewSpokane CountyPart of the Spokane Complex
Spokane Complex totalSpokane & surrounding~700 structures · 7,700+ acres · 65,000 evacuated

A federal emergency declaration for Washington was approved August 4, 2026, unlocking FEMA assistance for Spokane County. Statewide, 15 major fires have burned more than 250,000 acres.

Why contents is where these claims lose the most money

Structure value is comparatively easy to establish — there are comps, square footage, and Xactimate line items for rebuild. Contents is different. There is no appraisal, no comp set, and no independent record. The burden of proof sits entirely on the policyholder, who is asked to remember and value 1,500 to 3,000 individual items, from memory, while displaced and grieving.

What happens in practice is predictable:

On a $500,000 claim, a 15–30% documentation gap is $75,000–$150,000 that never reaches the family. Our fee is under 1% of the value we add.

Documenting a total loss when nothing is left

The most common question after a fire like Old Trails: how do you inventory a house that no longer exists? Total loss is the case we're built for. We reconstruct the record from sources that survived the fire even though the house didn't:

Every reconstructed line carries its evidentiary basis, so a challenged item can be defended on its own rather than as part of a bulk estimate.

Who we work with on Spokane files

Public adjusters

Take on more Spokane files than your staff can document. We become your contents department at surge capacity — 48-hour turnaround, your branding on the deliverable if you want it.

Disaster & mass tort attorneys

Standardized, auditable schedules of loss across a claimant cohort. Consistent methodology across every file means the damages model holds up as a whole, not just per plaintiff.

Restoration contractors

Contents documentation that supports your pack-out and cleaning scope, with live-sourced replacement values on non-restorable items.

Homeowners & policyholders

If you're handling your own claim, we build the inventory your carrier is asking for — complete, priced, and sourced — so the number you submit is the real one.

Common questions from Spokane claimants

How do I document contents when the house burned to the ground?

Total losses are the most common case we handle. We rebuild the inventory from the surviving visual record — listing photos, camera rolls, social media, prior inspection photos, purchase history — combined with a structured recall interview. See the reconstruction sources above.

Why does my insurer want a personal property inventory?

Most Washington homeowners policies require an itemized inventory of destroyed personal property — with quantities, ages, and replacement costs — before contents coverage is paid. The carrier pays against that list. An incomplete list is a permanently reduced payout, and once the claim closes, reopening it is difficult.

How fast is turnaround during a mass-loss event?

48 hours from receipt of the visual record to a delivered schedule of loss. Our capacity does not collapse during a surge, because the identification and pricing work is AI-assisted and human-verified rather than manually typed line by line.

What does it cost?

Under 1% of the value we add to the claim. The sample deliverable is free.

Spokane recovery resources

Start with one file. See the work.

Send 20 photos from any active Spokane claim, or up to 1,000 existing line items to be re-priced to live market. Free sample deliverable back in 48 hours.

Request my sample → Call the team