Until this summer, last year's Carlton Complex ranked as the biggest wildfire in Washington State history. It also worsened an existing housing crisis in one of Washington's poorest counties—Okanogan County—after ripping through more than 400 square miles of timber and grassland.

FEMA has twice rejected an individual assistance declaration for the Carlton Complex fire, denying funding that would help individual, uninsured homeowners. Now a second record-breaking wildfire is raging, draining resources from tapped-out communities trying to survive on the front lines of climate change. I wrote about some of those people for this week's Stranger after visiting Okanogan County last week.

Here are some ways to give wisely to support communities affected by the blazes:

The Community Foundation of North Central Washington funds the Carlton Complex Long Term Recovery Campaign, which is building housing for Carlton survivors and will soon be building housing for survivors of this year's Okanogan Complex. The Community Foundation used to take a two percent administrative charge—much lower than other aid organizations—but now is charging nothing to funnel donations to people who have lost their homes. They've got five different fire relief funds running, which you can donate to HERE.

Room One originally started out as a rad little teen pregnancy prevention and domestic violence victim assistance center, but took on the challenge of disaster case management in the Methow Valley after the Carlton Complex fire last year. Room One's programming serves some 400 survivors of last year's fire, and their disaster case managers will be working with survivors from this year's fires, too. Room One's principles are rooted in social justice and the anti-violence movement. Donate HERE.

The Okanogan Community Action Council, which specializes in low-income housing, homelessness, and hunger assistance, is taking donations for fire survivors HERE.

The Northwest Justice Project is helping one of the most underserved communities affected by the wildfires: migrant farmworkers. There are huge deficiencies in even making farmworkers aware that fires are burning nearby, and federal units crawling all over the place aren't making undocumented workers feel too secure. NJP specializes in legal aid. Donate HERE.

The North Star Fire is still burning on the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and has consumed more than 205,000 acres. Tribal members are some of the hardest hit by this year's fires. Donate to the tribal relief fund HERE.

A wildfire victim donation center has also been set up at the former Okanogan Bingo Casino, which is serving tribal and non-tribal members alike. You can check out their Facebook page for updated lists of needed items, or email them HERE.

I'll keep updating this post as I learn about more ways to give.