Washington Governor Bob Ferguson expanded the number of counties covered by Washington’s wildfire emergency adding five more counties and extending key housing protections landlords need to be aware of.
The amendment added Benton, Columbia, Grant, Kittitas and Whitman counties. That brought the total covered under the emergency to 12 counties and three Tribal Nations.
Two housing protections stayed in place through September 30. The order barred landlords from treating wildfire displacement as abandonment and from evicting tenants for taking in displaced people and pets.
“Wildfires have destroyed Washingtonians’ homes across a broad geographic area,” Ferguson said. “We remain laser-focused on assisting Washingtonians who have lost so much. My emergency proclamation extends important protections and expands eligibility to ensure everyone impacted can seek the help they need.”
Wildfires across the state of Washington have burned more than 1,200 homes and other structures and nearly 850,000 acres, forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate.
Residents have reported to legal services providers that they are reluctant to take in people displaced by the fires, or to care for the animals of displaced neighbors, because doing so could be treated as a violation of their lease and a basis for eviction.
Ferguson said in his order, “Landlords, property owners, and property managers are prohibited from treating a tenant’s absence from any dwelling in Benton, Chelan, Columbia, Douglas, Ferry, Grant, Kittitas, Okanogan, Spokane, Stevens, Whitman, and Yakima Counties, and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, and Spokane Tribe of Indians land as a result of this wildfire emergency, including due to emergency evacuation or fire damage, as abandonment of the premises for purposes of RCW 59.18.310, RCW 59.20.030(1), and RCW 59.20.130(7), unless the tenant communicates their intent not to resume their tenancy.”
In addition in the same counties he said, “Landlords, property owners, and property managers are prohibited from serving or enforcing, or threatening to serve or enforce, any notice requiring a resident to vacate any dwelling or parcel of land occupied as a dwelling, including but not limited to an eviction notice, notice of unlawful detainer, notice of termination of rental, or notice to comply or vacate, based on the occupancy of the dwelling.”
