Babb Fire destroys 121 homes

MALDEN — Eight days after the firestorm that brought a little bit of hell on earth to Whitman County and destroyed homes around the county, all fires are considered 100% contained and state mobilization forces have packed up and left.

The Babb/Malden Fire is now credited with burning 15,266 acres, 1,000 of which were in Spokane County. Crews were performing their final assessments of the Malden and Pine City communities late last week. Tally from the Northwest Interagency Incident Management Team No. 10, which was managing fire operations until 6 p.m. Monday evening, is 121 single family homes destroyed, four single family homes damaged, eight commercial properties including Malden city hall, library, post office and Masonic Lodge destroyed and 94 other structures destroyed.

Local fire officials have assumed control of the wildfire that swept across southern Spokane County and northern Whitman County on Monday, Sept. 7, destroying about 80% of the homes in Malden and about 50% in in Pine City.

The fire also destroyed a grain elevator in Pine City; that elevator continues to smolder.

According to Whitman County Sheriff's Office Tuesday, there will most likely continue to be a few flare-ups and hot spots, depending on the weather over the next couple of weeks, but local fire crews will work to keep things under control.

Residents of the communities were allowed to return to their homes Sept. 9 to assess the damage. Utility companies are also on the scene with work underway, including replacement of power poles.

Favorable weather conditions over the weekend helped crews make major progress on the mop up.

The general public is being asked by the Whitman County Sheriff's Office to stay out of the area at this time while workers and residents assess and work in the area.

Whitman County Public Works road department has closed a section of the Pine City-Malden Road in the vicinity of the PNW grain facility in Pine City. According to the press release put out by Public Works Director Mark Storey, the closure is due to the grain storage facility being compromised and ongoing fire-related activity. A concrete elevator at the site has had fire burning adjacent to or directly on it for days. The elevator is about two-thirds full of grain. There is concern about the possibility of the structure collapsing onto the adjacent road.

Storey noted there is no suitable county road detour route available in the vicinity. Through traffic is advised to make arrangements to go around via state highways in the region. Inspectors are expected to assess the facility later this week. The closure will remain in place until the potential hazard is mitigated or deemed to no longer be a potential hazard.