The demolition permit fee has been cut to $35 in both the City and the County, and the City issued its first rebuild permit in two days using plans it already had on file. Here is the sequence, who to contact, what can be reused, and what your rebuild has to meet on the code side that your old house didn't.
Short answer: the City of Spokane and Spokane County have both cut the demolition permit fee to $35, with processing and technology fees waived for wildfire-affected homeowners, and the City issued its first rebuild permit in two days using plans it already had on file. The rebuild process runs in four steps: EPA hazardous material removal (free), an asbestos survey plus a Notice of Intent to Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency (fees waived), the $35 demolition permit, then your rebuild permit. Your new home permits as new construction under the codes in force today, which means the 2021 Washington State Energy Code applies and your HVAC equipment needs a Manual J load calculation.
Both the City and the County have laid this out the same way, because the sequence is set by what has to happen to the site before construction can start, not by which jurisdiction you're in.
Who to contact depends on where the property sits. Inside Spokane city limits: the Development Services Center, PermitTeam@spokanecity.org, 509.625.6300, City Hall third floor. In unincorporated Spokane County: Spokane County Building and Planning, 509-477-3675, applications through the county's SmartGov public portal.
Often, yes - and this is the piece that's actually moving fast. The City of Spokane retained electronic construction documents for homes built between mid-2020 and 2026, and plans from an original permit application approved after February 1, 2021 can be transferred to a new rebuild permit. That's not a hypothetical: the City's first rebuild permit following the Spokane Complex Fires went from application to issued permit in two days. The homeowner's application was received August 25, 2026; City staff transferred the construction documents from the home's original 2023 permit; the rebuild permit was issued August 27, 2026.
If your home was built before 2020, the City likely doesn't have your plans on file, and you'll probably need a design professional to reproduce your construction documents. A design professional is not a blanket requirement for residential permits in general - the plans just need to carry enough detail for City staff to review them - but reconstructing a full plan set from nothing is a different job than transferring one that already exists electronically. Either way, the request starts the same place: contact the Development Services Center Permit Team.
Only with a structural engineer's certification, in both jurisdictions. The City's requirement: if you want to reuse your existing foundation or basement, you have to hire a structural engineer to determine whether it's suitable to be reused and capable of supporting the new structure. Spokane County's language is nearly identical: the foundation needs to be inspected and certified by a structural engineer to be kept for the rebuild, and neither the City nor the County performs that inspection themselves - the homeowner arranges it.
The reason this is a real requirement and not just paperwork is that fire can damage concrete in ways you can't see by walking around it. High heat causes spalling, microcracking, and a reduction in compressive strength that isn't visible on the surface the way scorching or discoloration is. A foundation that looks intact after a fire can still have lost strength it needs to carry a new structure - which is exactly what the structural engineer is being asked to determine.
Two things worth checking alongside the foundation itself, before you commit to reusing it: whether the slab or stem wall layout still matches what your new plans need, and the condition and routing of underground utility and service lines running to and under the old foundation. A foundation review is a good moment to confirm both rather than assume the old connections are fine.
This is the part that surprises people: a rebuild is new construction in the eyes of the permitting process, and new construction permits under the codes in force at the time of application - not the codes your original house was built under, however old or new that house was. If your home was built in 1995, the rebuild does not get to permit as a 1995 house. It permits under today's code, the same as if you were building on a vacant lot.
Washington's 2021 code suite - including the 2021 Washington State Energy Code (WSEC), residential provisions - has been in effect statewide since March 15, 2024, based on the 2021 IECC with Washington amendments. That means a home rebuilt today, regardless of when the original was built, has to meet current WSEC-R requirements: envelope insulation levels, air sealing, and the additional efficiency credit options WSEC requires beyond the base IECC. An older home that predates all of that gets the same requirements as any new build on the lot next door.
WSEC compliance is its own body of paperwork, separate from REScheck - Washington doesn't use REScheck for its residential energy code path. For the Washington-specific compliance documentation, our sister site wsec.ai handles WSEC-R submittals; same operator, built specifically for Washington's code rather than the national IECC path. What doesn't change by state is equipment sizing, which is next.
The envelope your rebuild will have is not the envelope the fire took. A home built to the current WSEC-R is tighter and better insulated than most of what it's replacing - lower air leakage, higher wall and ceiling R-values, better windows. That changes the heating and cooling load the house actually has, which means the HVAC equipment size that made sense for the old house doesn't necessarily make sense for the new one.
The common shortcut - "the old furnace and AC were a 3-ton system, so put in a 3-ton system" - skips the part where the new building has a different load than the old one. Oversized equipment costs more to buy and install, and it short-cycles: it satisfies the thermostat quickly and shuts off before it's run a full, efficient cycle, which is worse for comfort, humidity control, and equipment wear than a correctly sized system running longer cycles.
IRC M1401.3 requires heating and cooling equipment to be sized in accordance with ACCA Manual S, based on building loads calculated in accordance with ACCA Manual J or another approved method. That requirement doesn't carve out an exception for rebuilds or for equipment that's replacing something similar - it applies to a rebuild the same as it applies to any new home. This is also the point where a load calculation earns its keep beyond just satisfying the permit: it tells you what the new envelope actually needs, instead of what the old one used to need.
The Spokane Home Builders Association (SHBA) has published a rebuild checklist worth working through in order: contact your insurance company first and photograph everything before cleanup starts, keep receipts, and start a recovery folder - physical or digital - to hold every contact, form, and communication as the process runs. SHBA's site also links directly to the county's SmartGov permit portal (co-spokane-wa.smartgovcommunity.com) for County applications.
On timing: both City and County staff have said they're targeting a five-to-seven-day turnaround for rebuilds that are substantially the same footprint and substantially the same location, with complicating factors able to extend that. Temporary on-site housing is allowed in both jurisdictions within limitations set by local code - call the Development Services Center in the City or Building and Planning in the County to talk through your specific situation before assuming what's allowed.
Wells and septic questions - whether a system needs testing, inspection, or replacement after the fire - go to the Spokane Regional Health District's Liquid Waste program at (509) 324-1560, ext. 1, or liquidwaste@srhd.org. And as noted above, NOI fees to SRCAA are being waived across the board for fire-affected properties, including emergency fast-tracked NOIs, so there's no reason to delay that filing over cost.
Rebuilding after the fires? We're offering 50% off any report on this site and on wsec.ai for wildfire-affected properties, through the end of 2027. Email plans@theplansexaminer.com with your jobsite address and we'll send you the discount code - no documentation needed, the address is enough.
For a rebuild, we work from whatever plan set you're moving forward with - transferred City plans, a new design professional's set, or plans you're producing yourself with enough detail for review. For a REScheck or WSEC-R compliance report (via wsec.ai for Washington), we need the window and door schedule, wall and ceiling insulation and air-sealing details, foundation type, and mechanical equipment specified. For a Manual J, the same plan set plus your climate zone and duct layout gets you a load calculation and equipment sizing your building department can check against the plans directly.
EPA hazardous material removal (free), asbestos survey plus NOI to SRCAA (fees waived), the $35 demolition permit, then the rebuild permit. City residents work with the Development Services Center; County residents work with Building and Planning and the SmartGov portal.
Often yes, if your home was built mid-2020 through 2026 and the original permit was approved after February 1, 2021 - that's how the first rebuild permit went from application to issued in two days.
Only with a structural engineer's certification that it's suitable and can support the new structure. Neither the City nor County performs that inspection - you arrange it.
Yes. A rebuild permits as new construction under the codes in force today, including the 2021 Washington State Energy Code, not the codes your original house was built under.
The new envelope has a different, usually smaller, load than the old one. Matching the old tonnage risks oversizing and short-cycling; IRC M1401.3 requires Manual S sizing based on a Manual J load regardless.
Both City and County are targeting five to seven days for rebuilds that are substantially the same footprint and location, with complicating factors able to extend that.
Fees, timelines, and contact points change as the recovery effort continues; this page reflects what the City of Spokane, Spokane County, and SHBA had posted as of the read dates above. Confirm current fees and requirements with the Development Services Center or Spokane County Building and Planning before applying. Final authority rests with your building official.
Travis Smith, ICC-Certified Residential Energy Inspector / Plans Examiner. The same certification your building department's plan reviewer holds - working for you.