The day before, the National Weather Service put eastern Washington under a particularly dangerous situation warning, one step above a red flag and the first ever issued in the state. Three fires started in Spokane County on Saturday, just four hours apart. One has crossed the river into the city. 65,000 people are out of their homes. Five days on, nothing is contained. But it's not the first time. Just three years ago, a light on a utility pole started the Gray Fire in the same county. Along with the Oregon Road Fire, it took 710 structures and destroyed $166 million in property - a state record that still stands. The estimate for this one already runs as high as 1,100 structures damaged. The figures below are from the last fire, because it's the only one that has been counted. It's a guide to what this one will cost. Because this fire is still burning NOW.

1. $166 million was the last bill, and it still holds the state record
_{Assessed value destroyed, 2023 (Spokesman-Review)}

2. $212,188,637 came from insurers. For 244 households it still ran out.
_{Gray and Oregon Road claims paid (WA Insurance Commissioner)}

3. Two-thirds were underinsured. Then a third of them lost coverage.
_{Post-fire policy status (WA Insurance Commissioner)}

4. $936,000 is what the utility owes. Three years on, it has paid nothing.
_{DNR cost recovery suit, filed 2024 (Spokesman-Review)}

Billion-Dollar Disasters - Every Other Week

$36 billion of insured losses in six months, 75% of the planet's bill. US insured natural catastrophe losses ran about $36B of roughly $47B worldwide in the first half of 2026, against $111B in global economic losses. (Aon, 2026-07-22)

4.8 million acres burned, 133% of the ten-year average, and peak season is still ahead. 4,818,250 acres year to date against a ten-year average of 3,634,306. (National Interagency Fire Center, 2026-07-31)

Eleven billion-dollar insured disasters in 26 weeks, one every 2.4 weeks. Nine severe convective storm outbreaks and two winter storms, part of 13 worldwide against a historical average of 10. (Aon, 2026-07-22)

What's Straining the Grid and Our Wallets

13.4 million residential electricity shutoffs in a single year. The first federal disconnection dataset also counted roughly 94.9 million final shutoff notices to residential customers in 2024. (US Energy Information Administration, 2026-04-14)

$186 billion in profit for 110 utilities, 13 cents of every dollar customers paid. Investor-owned electric utilities cleared $186B between 2021 and 2024, while residential prices rose 7.3% from April 2025 to April 2026 alone. (Consumer Reports, 2026-07-23)

$817 average past-due balance, up nearly 40% in four years. About 14 million Americans now carry utility debt severe enough to go to collections. (The Century Foundation, 2026-07-21)

The grid is carrying two new loads at once. Hotter summers means more power just to keep a house livable. And data centers are being built faster than the grid can absorb them. In March, with capacity prices already hitting the federal cap, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI signed a White House pledge promising their increased energy load would not land on your bill. Four months later the bigger bill arrived anyway. (White House, 2026-03-04)

The record: On July 2 the PJM grid, which covers 13 states and DC, came within 2,000 megawatts of a 20-year demand record, and the Department of Energy authorized PJM to order data centers off the grid and onto their own generators so houses and hospitals stayed lit. (Bloomberg, 2026-07-02)

The bill: Four months after the pledge, PJM's capacity auction cleared at the federal cap, $16.4 billion, and the independent market monitor put over a third of it on data centers. That cost is recovered from the 67 million people PJM serves. ComEd says capacity charges alone have added about $12 a month to the average customer's bill since 2022, with another $2 to $3 added on June 1. (Utility Dive, 2026-07-20; ComEd, 2026-05-14)

The exposure: The same weather driving those bills up is coming for the buildings. First Street puts 79% of global data center capacity at elevated climate risk, and Northern Virginia, the largest market in the world, faces both extreme heat and flash flooding. (First Street, 2026-06-18)

TLDR: Heat was already driving your bill up. Data centers landed on top of it, and the emergency plan is to switch them off so your lights stay on.

America: From Sea to Rising Sea

Idaho: $0 in the fire suppression fund before fire season started. The state forester reported the Department of Lands deficiency spending with a cash balance below $0 as of June 9. A $32.8M transfer arrived July 1, against a season the governor expects to cost $70M or more. (Idaho Capital Sun, 2026-06-16)

Arizona: $96 million in flood damage, appeal rejected. Globe logged an estimated $96M from September 2025 floods that killed three people. The state appealed in January and FEMA rejected it on July 2, leaving a $10M state line item as the main lifeline. (KJZZ, 2026-07-16)

Oregon: $90.9 million spent fighting fires, with two FEMA denials. Suppression costs hit about $90.9M by July 21 against $61.8M on the same date last year, across 406,846 acres. FEMA denied the East Evans Creek Fire on July 22 and the 200,000-acre Rowe Creek Complex on July 24. (KATU, 2026-07-21; Sen. Merkley, 2026-07-28)

North Carolina: $3.9 million still owed since a December court order. Princeville and other towns remain unpaid on $3.9M of a $10.9M mitigation award a judge ordered restored in December. (WRAL, 2026-02-19)

Weather is coming, and it keeps getting more expensive. Track the totals at BadForecast.com

Executive Editor: Sierra Lindsey Kos · Editor: Jess McIntosh