Five years since a fire blazed through Malden, the rural town is still coping with the effects: ‘People have PTSD’

MALDEN, Wash. – Todd Deckard, 62, was on the phone with his brother when he started smelling smoke.

Quickly, he gathered his guns and his money box and made his way out of the house.

It wasn’t long before the sea of black smoke and red flames crested the hill and made its way through the town.

“In 45 minutes, it was in town eating houses,” Deckard said of that day, Sept. 7, 2020.

Five years ago on Labor Day, the Babb Road fire consumed much of Malden and neighboring community Pine City, after a windstorm blew a tree branch into an Avista power line. While no deaths were reported, the fire burned 80% of the towns’ homes and multiple rail bridges on the John Wayne Trail over Pine Creek.

Chandelle Frick, town clerk and treasurer for Malden, said the town’s population has fallen from 200