Even after devastating blazes, Whitman County doesn’t have a fire protection plan. Now, residents have a chance to shape it

On the morning of Sept. 7, 2020, a windstorm caused an errant branch to fall onto a power line, sparking a fire that would leave 85% of the small farming town of Malden, Washington, destroyed.

Whitman County farmer Richard Scheuerman visited the ruins of the town shortly after the fire.

“It was really remarkable,” said Scheuerman, who grew up on a small farm on the Palouse. “The whole town gone in a flash before they could really fight it properly.”

Whitman remains one of the few counties in Washington without a wildfire protection plan, despite increasing fires across southeastern Washington over the past two decades. Officials recently published a draft plan that could unlock millions in state and federal grants for fire prevention and response resources, but public engagement has been minimal during the commenting period.

Until recently, wildfires seemed to be a distant problem, often in forested areas or populated regions. But with the state headed for its third consecutive summer of drought, that risk has spread, according to experts.

“In those late summer months, the whole county is at huge fire risk, but if you look at government mapping, they’ll say to not worry about it or that risk is minimal,” said Chuck Svendgard, conservation planner and wildfire resiliency specialist at Palouse Conservation District.

Many rural areas rely primarily on volunteer firefighters – even local residents – as their first line of defense, with larger emergency forces often located several minutes away. The challenge lies in coordinating prevention efforts across more than 20 small communities scattered throughout one of the state’s largest counties.

Towns like Malden are common in Whitman County. Rural communities with fewer than 3,000 people are separated by large stretches of agricultural land. Many of these towns operate broadly independently of each other, often leaving emergency resources scarce.

According to the Washington Department of Natural Resources, wildfire acreage and incidents have increased significantly over the past 20 years in southeastern Washington. Svendgard believes that residents of the county haven’t been historically concerned with wildfires.

“There was a general apathy of what the potential for a pretty catastrophic wildfire would be here – maybe it wasn’t something in people’s minds when really they should be,” Svendgard said.

Officials in Whitman County have introduced and published their draft of what will eventually be a comprehensive wildfire plan. Before the first draft of the plan could be published, the team began holding workshops and public meetings last year. The current draft for the plan can be found on the Whitman County emergency management website. The final draft after the conclusion of the public commenting period is expected to be completed by April 30.

“Being able to have this plan in place opens the door to having all these small-town fire districts and firefighters go after their own grant dollars whether that’s for equipment or training or just staffing dollars,” Svendgard said. “That’s resources they can’t get access to without this plan in place.”

Despite a lack of public fear toward fire damages, Whitman’s largest city, Pullman, has an extensive history with damaging fires dating back over 100 years. A fire in 1887 took out the majority of buildings in town. The late WSU Professor Robert Luedeking kept track of major fires in Pullman during the town’s first 100 years starting in 1886, documenting more than 50 major fires. Many of these fires took numerous buildings and structures.

Among the largest challenges to getting a wildfire plan in place is coordinating with the various small communities across one of the largest counties in the state. The drafted plan identifies over 20 individual communities, many with fewer than 3,000 people. Much of the land is home to wheat, lentil and other crops.

Scheuerman said farmers may distrust government plans, fearing further regulations, even as fire acreage continues to grow.

“It’s a very serious problem that’s only getting worse,” Scheuerman said. “You get a lot of farmers who see government involvement as a blanket negative. They don’t want people messing with their business, but they’re simply not equipped to tackle the fires we’re getting.”