It’s been two years since the towns of Malden and Pine City were devastated by the 15,000 acre Babb Road fire.
Malden resident Chantelle Frick will never forget Labor Day 2020.
“We could see the flames coming across the field that were five feet tall with the wind blowing. We pulled up to our house. The blocks in front of it were already completely burned, our house, our deck was on fire when we pulled up,” she said.
Frick and her husband were able to save their home with garden hoses, but most weren’t as lucky. The flames destroyed 121 homes and more than 100 buildings.
Twenty-four homes have been rebuilt. Although a few families are still living in RVs, Frick says she and other community leaders are working with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity to build housing for them.
Planning is underway for a new community building, town hall, and fire station to replace the temporary one. The new fire station should be completed by next August.
That progress is made possible, Frick says, because many agencies are working together. She says they're also working with other towns.
"We try to share some of our processes with other organizations that have experienced wildfire disasters like the Lind area just did," she said. "They just came down to town hall, I want to say about a week ago, and we shared a lot of our contact information and some of the things that we did that helped us in the recovery process."
Despite the tragedy, Frick said residents are seeing it as a chance for a new start.
“Everybody here really envisions a brand new Malden. A nicer place to live, and raise your family. And we’re really trying to, it’s basically a brand new slate. We can make it what we want to make it, and so we’re trying to make it better than it was before," she said.
Donations for the Malden recovery can be made at the Pine Creek Community Restoration website.