Event Details
Note: This event occurred in the past. Information and links provided here are for historical reference and may no longer be valid.
Date & Time
Monday, Mar 14, 2022 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Event Link
Department
Gonzaga Center for Climate, Society, and the Environment
Cost
Free and open to the public
About This Event
On September 7, 2020 wildfires raged through northern Whitman County, Washington, fanned by wind gusts as high as 50 mph. The Babb Road Fire consumed more than 15,000 acres of Palouse farmland and habitat and engulfed the towns of Malden and Pine City, forcing nearly 200 residents to evacuate. The fast-moving fire consumed the Town of Malden in only two and a half hours, spewing briquette-sized embers and destroying 80% of the town's buildings, many down to their foundations. Among the rubble are the majority of homes and the town's only post office, town hall, fire station, food bank, and library.In this talk Scott Hokonson will discuss the urgency of planning to be resilient to our changing climate and lessons learned that can help other communities in the Inland Northwest.
About the speaker: Hokonson is Project Director for the Pine Creek Community Long Term Restoration Group. He is a Malden firefighter and Malden town council member who was working towards his masters in urban planning and social work when Malden burned in the Labor Day fires of 2020.
(Note: this event was originally scheduled for March 7 and has been rescheduled for this new date, March 14.)