President Joe Biden has approved federal aid for Malden and Pine City, along with other areas in Eastern Washington, nearly five months after devastating wildfires in the region burned hundreds of thousands of acres.
More than 85% of all buildings in Malden and Pine City, located in rural Whitman County, burned to the ground in the Babb Road Fire. Residents have not been able to clean up or rebuild since the wildfire sparked on Labor Day in 2020. Washington State Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, along with Eastern Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, are among those who urged Biden to sign Governor Jay Inslee's September request for a statewide Major Disaster Declaration.