The Malden-Pine City fire of 2020 is literally emblazoned on my mind. Monday, September 7, 2020 was a beautiful day at the historic Henry and Martha Smith house, which was built in 1929. Heather and I had bought the property in 2016 and had been working hard to restore the home and grounds. Yet on that lovely morning there was an ominous wind blowing from the northeast instead of the usual southwest and the winds were very strong, 50 miles an hour plus! Nonetheless my goal for the day was to rid the meadow once and for all of poison hemlock, my arch nemesis. Around 1:40 we noticed smoke billowing from the direction of Malden. I dismissed it because seeing smoke is common on the Palouse and fire outbreaks, in my experience, have always been quickly contained by firefighters.
