Whitman County Gazette - Serving Whitman County since 1877

MALDEN — The Babb/Malden Fire is now credited with burning 17,781 acres, 1,000 of which were in Spokane County.

Crews are performing their final assessments of the Malden and Pine City communities.

The current tally from the Southeast Washington Type 3 Inter-Agency Team is 121 single-family homes destroyed, four single-family homes damaged, eight commercial and governmental properties - including Malden City Hall, library, post office, convenience store and Masonic Lodge No. 188 destroyed - and 94 other structures destroyed.

Residents of the communities were allowed to return to their...