Scott Carlon lived in a historic 1929 brick bungalow in Eastern Washington, just a few miles outside of Malden. While Carlon is still there, the bungalow no longer is. The house, as well as 80% of the nearby town of Malden, was destroyed in a fast-moving wildfire over Labor Day weekend in 2020.
The town continues to recover and rebuild, despite numerous setbacks and limited resources. Several residents remain in limbo, still living in RVs five years later.
Malden’s recovery began with a delay, as President Trump denied the town’s FEMA request amid a feud with then-Gov. Jay Inslee. FEMA ultimately released the funds when the administration changed in 2021. Even then, the small population in Malden meant the town did not meet the damage threshold, $4.2 million, for individual assistance with FEMA.
“We could have lost every building, every shed in town, and we would have never met that,” Malden Mayor Dan Harwood said.
Instead the city looked to other avenues for support. Volunteers from the Anabaptiste Missionaries rebuilt houses — eight in total, with the cost of materials for six of those covered by a Red Cross grant.
Nearly 130 individuals received portions of a $27 million settlement earlier this year after Avista Utilities and its tree-trimming contractor agreed to end several combined lawsuits over the start of the fire. State investigators had linked the fire to a branch hitting the utility’s power lines.
While residents in Malden – and Carlon in nearby Pine City – have been able to rebuild, several families have not. They continue to live five years later in what was intended to be a temporary solution.
“We’ve had some success, but knowing there’s still families in RVs? Does that feel successful knowing that? No, absolutely not,” said Chandelle Frick, city clerk for the town of Malden and executive director of the Pine Creek Community Long-Term Recovery Organization.
Yet, for Harwood, the only option is to keep moving forward.
“We can’t change the past, and we’ll never forget the past,” he said. “But what we can do is remember the past and move to the future.”
For more in-depth information on Malden’s recovery and what it means for utility-caused wildfires in the future, check out this article.
