Mr. Hehr and his family had moved to Malden because of its small size and cheap real estate. He paid $33,000 in cash for the 1910 frame house built for railroad
Retired on $1,200-per-month disability after being injured at work, Mr. Hehr said he did not buy fire insurance for his home because the $118 a month was too pricey for his budget.
“Now I wish I had it,” he said.
Another resident, Brent Bertsch, said he moved to Malden from Seattle in 2017 because of low housing prices. His 1,200-square-foot farmhouse was still standing when he returned after the evacuation.
He was at a loss to say why his house escaped the flames, especially after they destroyed a nearby garage containing his tools, including his late father’s toolbox.
After being evacuated, Mr. Bertsch said, he had driven around the flames and returned to Malden in an attempt to save his home, driving his Toyota Prius through “an ash-and-smoke blizzard” that he could barely see through. “I could feel the blast of heat coming through my car’s windows,” he said.
The fire was hopscotching in an unpredictable pattern, destroying two or three homes and buildings in one spot, then skipping over others that were left mostly unscathed.
Once at his house, he turned on a garden hose before a team of firefighters arrived with their larger hoses. His neighbors, a couple both in their 80s, also safely escaped and their house also survived.