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 "" (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.
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:
If you are a Spokane resident who would like to provided feedback on the plan, please complete this form:
Spokane Wildfire Smoke Resilience Plan
The Spokane Wildfire Smoke Resilience Plan will be publicly available in July 2025.