Spokane fly tier and Umpqua signature tyer Josh Mills has launched an Instagram-based auction called #fliesforspokane to raise money for people displaced by the Spokane Complex fires, which have destroyed more than 600 structures and forced roughly 60,000 evacuations across the northwest side of the city since Saturday.
Announcing the effort on the PNW Fly Fishing forum, Mills said all proceeds will go to the Innovia Foundation Wildfire Relief Fund, with a $50,000 target and roughly 21 live auctions already up when he posted Monday.
In 2019, Mills ran #dozenfordorian through Instagram, for Bahamas guides after Hurricane Dorian and raised more than $40,000 through Yellow Dog Community and Conservation Foundation. The mechanics are the same: participants post their own auctions on their own accounts — flies, gear, guided trips, art, whatever they can offer — tag #fliesforspokane, run each auction seven days, and can invite Mills on as a collaborator to widen the reach.
On the water, the fires have already hit angler access. Silver Bow Fly Shop’s current fishing report notes the Spokane River is closed from the Disc Golf Course down through Nine Mile Falls because of the Spokane Complex Fire and directs anglers to other water. Riverside State Park sits inside the burn area.
The auction hub is on Mills’s Instagram. Innovia’s broader Spokane Complex Wildfire Response Fund, which #fliesforspokane feeds into, raised $1.55 million on its first day from regional donors. The fires remain active.
