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A wildfire in Whitman County started Saturday afternoon, prompting a Level 3 (“Go Now!”) evacuation order for residents in Malden — a valley town that burned in the 2020 Babb Road fire that destroyed 80% of its homes.
The new fire, named the Wells Road fire, sparked around 4 p.m. north of the town in Eastern Washington and was blazing about 200 acres, according to the Whitman County sheriff’s office, adding that conditions “may change rapidly.”
By evening it had grown to 1,900 acres.
Malden residents were told to leave immediately, according to Pullman Firefighters, which responded along with Spokane firefighters and fire districts across Whitman County. Rosalia, the town east of Malden, was under a Level Two (“Get Set”) evacuation notice.
“Please avoid the area and keep roads clear for evacuating residents and incoming emergency resources,” a Pullman Firefighters social media post read. “We will share additional information as it becomes available.”
A red flag warning was in effect until 11 p.m. Saturday for much of Eastern Washington, due to dry, hot, windy weather.
Malden residents still struggle with post-traumatic stress from the 2020 wildfire and fear of another one, especially around Labor Day. The town had a population of about 200 people at the time.
“There’s a lot of people that still have PTSD when it comes to that. I know my partner does,” resident Jessica Landry said in a Spokesman-Review story published in 2025. “We still get that heightened awareness and struggle. Every year it’s like, how can you say a happy anniversary to a thing that wasn’t happy?”
This month a trio of wildfires in Spokane forced over 60,000 people to evacuate, about 40 miles north of Malden.
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