{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://baumgartner.house.gov/2026/09/29/icymi-congressman-baumgartner-joins-governor-ferguson-to-provide-an-update-on-states-request-for-federal-major-disaster-declaration-regarding-eastern-wa-wildfires/", "ICYMI: Congressman Baumgartner Joins Governor Ferguson to Provide an Update on State\u2019s Request for Federal Major Disaster Declaration Regarding Eastern WA Wildfires", "2026-09-29", "2026", "2026-09", "Republican", "House", "WA", "Michael Baumgartner", "B001322", "baumgartner.house.gov", "baumgartner", "https://baumgartner.house.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "September 28, 2026\n\nSPOKANE, WA \u2014 Today, Congressman Michael Baumgartner (WA-05) joined Gov. Bob Ferguson along with other state and local officials to formally request a federal Major Disaster Declaration related to the wildfires in Eastern Washington that broke out earlier this summer.\n\nThree major wildfires \u2013 the Old Trails Fire in northwest Spokane, the Autumn Lane Fire near Nine Mile Falls, and the Fairview Fire in Mead \u2013 caused widespread destruction across the Spokane area. The fires prompted evacuations for approximately 67,000 residents, burned nearly 10,000 acres, and destroyed 833 homes. Total damages are estimated to exceed $1 billion.\n\nView Senator Murray and the entire Washington delegation\u2019s letter to President Trump here.\n\nWatch the full press conference here.\n\nCongressman Baumgartner\u2019s Notable Quotes:\n\n\u201cThese fires have made a mark on the national landscape [and] I cannot begin to tell you how many members of Congress throughout the country have reached out in the aftermath of the fires and there is a nationwide willingness to help and a nationwide understanding that we need help.\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cWhile there are Republicans, Democrats, Independents that support you, this has just been a unified effort across the board and that has been great to see.\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cI was also with President Trump, a week ago Wednesday, in the Oval Office, at the White House and feel very confident that we are going to get support for this FEMA request.\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cNow, as these go forward, there\u2019s both an individual component and a government component and it\u2019s important the federal government is not just writing a blank check here so it\u2019s important that the government component be reasonable and not be a cash grab to fill in other aspects of government spending but again, I do feel very confident [and] Secretary Mullin feels very confident about the need here.\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s important that if the federal government is going to be helping states like Washington, it\u2019s important that states like Washington be doing everything they can to have healthy forests.\u201d", 1, "2026-09-30T10:57:52Z", "2026-09-30T10:59:04Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://baumgartner.house.gov/2026/09/29/icymi-congressman-baumgartner-joins-governor-ferguson-to-provide-an-update-on-states-request-for-federal-major-disaster-declaration-regarding-eastern-wa-wildfires/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9566301014274359, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}