By The Restoration HQ desk · · filed under Storms & CAT
Fire season moves inland: Colorado, Oregon, Washington declarations in one week, plus a second Texas flood
Inside one week, FEMA issued fire-management assistance declarations for fires in Colorado, Oregon and Washington, and approved a second Texas emergency declaration (EM-3649) for the July flooding, on top of last week's major disaster declaration (DR-4879).
FORThis is the read-ahead that separates the ready shops from the scramblers. Fires are declaring in three interior states, get your CAT response, MSAs and out-of-area logistics set now.
AGAINSTChasing every federal declaration is how independents blow up their margins on travel, lodging and turnover. Demand signal isn't the same as a profitable job, pick your CAT deployments, don't just follow the smoke.
Consensus vs. contrarianEveryone tracks California fires. The quieter signal: the Rockies and Pacific Northwest lit up in mid-July, which means the fire-restoration and smoke-remediation window in those markets is opening while the coverage is still all pointed at CA.
Sources FEMA, www.fema.gov/press-release/20260718/presiden… (TX Emergency EM-3649, flooding from 2026-07-12, declared 2026-07-18); FEMA fire-management declarations: Willow Fire (CO, 2026-07-05), Lower Dry Creek Fire (OR, 2026-07-16), Kaiser Canyon Fire (WA, 2026-07-17).