Masons likely to play important role in Malden recovery

MALDEN - Almost wherever one travels on the streets of Malden, piles of ash and rubble are all that remain following the Babb Road Fire that raced through the community on Labor Day.

Even the Mason's Hall was reduced to just ashes and a few small artifacts that volunteers found as they sifted through the basement on Sept. 16, a little over a week after the wind-driven blaze torched some 18,000 acres with the nearby community of Pine City also feeling its effects.

While the rest of the town and surrounding area has been slowly trying to figure out the way forward, the Masons, a magnet of commun...