Alarm goes off at noon daily, but not before Babb Fire
A bulldozer operator is viewed through the heat haze produced by the destroyed Pine City grain elevator.
Malden area residents gather for a public meeting at a make-shift town hall.
Whitman County Commission Chairman Michael Largent opens the meeting.
MALDEN – Angry residents wanted an answer Tuesday on why the city's fire siren never sounded on Labor Day when the Babb Fire swept through town.
During a meeting that attracted more than 150 residents, volunteers and government officials, several residents loudly demanded an answer.
Among those residents is Vanessa Place, whose home was destroyed, leaving her, her husband and four kids living out of a travel trailer in the burned-out town.
"It (the siren) goes off at noon every day," she said. "It did not go off (on Labor Day, Sept. 7)."
Place directed her frustration at City Councilman Scott Hokonson, who is also a volunteer.
Hokonson tried to avoid confrontation on the subject, noting that he, too, lost everything except two long guns and his shaving kit.
"I went door-to-door," he said, noting he left everything behind to try to save his neighbors. "I lost everything."
Place countered back, noting many neighbors went door-to-door helping each other out.
She refocused the debate on the siren.
"Why did the town alarm not go off," she asked repeatedly.
Hokonson didn't have an answer, but said it was among many questions that have to be answered.
"Everyone has questions; everyone has concerns," he said. "Everybody here is going to be there the best way they can to help you."
Another resident challenged Hokonson from the back of the crowd.
"I come to the council meetings and you don't hear us," he shouted.
Other residents, too, piped up, asking about the siren and evacuation.
Hokonson called on his community to "pull together" to rebuild, noting the process is "not going to be pretty."
Residents said that if the city and other officials truly want to help the community rebuild, they'll plan future meetings at nights and on weekends, rather than during a weekday when residents who have already lost everything are at work.
Roger Harnack can be reached at roger@cheneyfreepress.com.
Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, columnist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers from Washington state to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.
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