What just happened in Spokane, Washington is making people sick to their stomachs. A fast moving fire tore through neighborhoods so quickly that many residents had almost no time to evacuate. Police were going door to door.

Hundreds of homes were reduced to ash within hours. Firefighters were nowhere to be seen. People are pointing out the same strange patterns seen in Maui

: • Homes completely gone

• Cars melted in driveways

• Trees and some structures still standing

Many residents also reported few or no firefighters on scene for hours after the fire started. Now here’s the part that’s raising the most questions.

Just weeks before the fire, Spokane County commissioners were discussing a temporary ban on data centers. Residents were strongly against them.

At the same time, a county commissioner was reportedly holding private meetings with a little known company called Apricus Energy Solutions. A firm with almost no track record that wanted to build a massive data center in the area and was pushing for tax breaks.

After the fire destroyed large parts of the community, some are now asking whether the cleared land could be seized through eminent domain and used for the very projects residents fought against.

Homes gone. Land cleared. Data centers waiting in the wings. How many more towns have to burn before people admit these “wildfires” aren’t random?