Spokane-Area Fire Families Weigh Rebuilding or Selling

More than two months after the Autumn Lane Fire destroyed their home, Erik Schubach and his wife have moved into another house. They chose to sell the property near Nine Mile Falls, where they had spent 35 years and where his wife had grown up.

Schubach said their insurance coverage fell short of their losses. Preparing the burned lot for use could have reached $100,000, while a replacement house might have required another $120,000, depending on the kind of home they selected. Together, those expenses would have exceeded the land’s value. The couple instead combined their insurance payout with proceeds from a relative’s life insurance policy to purchase a 120-year-old Garland District home.

Other fire-affected owners are considering similar choices. At least one cleaned-up parcel in the Rifle Club Road area is listed for sale, and additional homeowners have said they intend to sell. For Spokane-area families, the calculations involve both the emotional pull of returning and the cost of making damaged land livable again. Schubach and his wife are now settling in with their pets and gradually furnishing their new home in a neighborhood where he had long wanted to live.