Malden residents learn about rebuilding

MALDEN, Wash. — The smoke has pretty much subsided, and with fall officially in the books and winter ahead, the victims of the Babb Road Fire gathered Sept. 23 to learn what the path ahead looks like.

Meeting in open-air tents behind the makeshift city hall which is housed in a mobile office structure, many masked — and some not — area residents heard from a variety of government officials. They outlined the steps necessary to first clean up and then rebuild following the Labor Day fire that blackened nearly 20,000 acres and destroyed an estimated 80% of the structures in Malden.

Gerry Bozarth...