From the Ashes
Ravaged by wildfire, the town of Malden looks to the future.
Story and Photos by Sydney Beckett
December 12, 2020
The Babb Road Fire that burned on September 7, 2020 near Spokane, Washington decimated many homes in the small town of Malden and neighboring Pine Creek. The damage was sporadic, with some homes untouched, while others nearby were obliterated.
Driving into the town of Malden, Washington in mid-October, the evening sun casts a golden glow on a small green and white sign that reads “Welcome to Malden.” However, it’s obvious that something isn’t right. Concrete front porches lead up to piles of ash and debris. Brick fireplaces with chimneys stand tall and exposed. Six weeks after the Babb Road Fire, residents of Malden are digging through the rubble of what used to be their homes. The smell of smoke still lingers in the air.
Approximately 250 people call Malden home. Towering ponderosa pine trees dot the landscape and grassy fields sprawl as far as the eye can see. The fire occurred on September 7, 2020 on an unusually windy day, driving the flames across the grassland and into the town with little warning.
“The fire came really quickly and so neighbors were helping each other. I was knocking on doors to help people get out,” said Scott Hokonson, Malden city councilman. “A lot of people didn’t know the fire was coming.”
City Councilman Scott Hokonson has three sons. He is hopeful for the future of Malden. He believes there’s a lot of opportunity to be had with essentially a blank slate.
Hokonson ran door to door to help the people. Whitman County deputies used loudspeakers to warn residents as the fire approached Malden.
“Evacuate now. evacuate now. Don’t wait, evacuate now,” they said, according to Hokonson.
Most people fled immediately. Some stayed behind to fight the fire on their own, trying to stop it from engulfing their homes. While some were successful, many were not. When the fire finally died, 121 homes were destroyed.
Rachel Blakely lived in this home for years until passing it onto her son, who began raising a family of his own in the house. It was built in 1910 and the family plans to rebuild.
The fate of individual buildings came down to simple things, said Hokonson: A gutter clogged with dead leaves, a wooden deck or a stack of firewood left too close to the house. Anything within the home ignition zone, the area surrounding a house where easy fuel for the fire can quickly send a house up in flames. Many of the houses left standing had metal roofs and no wooden decks, noted Hokonson.
Rachel Blakely found someone’s vintage Singer straight stitch sewing machine in the rubble. The encounter made her grateful that her own grandmother’s sewing machine survived the fire as it’s the only thing she has left of hers.
After the fire, the people of Malden scattered. Some were staying in hotels, others with family and a lot of people were living in trailers, RVs and temporary shelters on their property.
Rachel Blakely and her son’s family both lost their homes. In mid-October they were living in two fifth wheel trailers parked in Rachel’s yard, surrounded by pear, apricot and cherry trees.
“Even though our homes are gone it’s so comforting to drive the same road home we have for years,” said Blakely in an email, explaining the feeling of being back in Malden after staying in a hotel.
The metal skeletons of cars both old and new sit in a temporary scrap yard. They probably won’t be making it back out onto the open road.
The Washington 2020 fire season saw record numbers of fires. At least 80 other fires started throughout the state on Labor Day alone, affecting communities across Washington and burning an estimated 130 thousand hectares . Extreme wildfires burned throughout California and Oregon as well, putting many at risk of losing their homes or breathing in smoke.
For days, smoke blanketed the entire Pacific Northwest, creating hazardous air quality and an eerie reminder of the destruction. The people of Malden are certainly not alone in the uncertainties that lie ahead, but one thing is for sure. The fire won’t wipe Malden from the map. Many residents are already making plans to rebuild.
Looking down Pine City Malden Road, the sun sets over the town after another day of rebuilding after the fire.
Sydney Beckett is an environmental science student at Western with a passion for photography and capturing the natural world.