Brush fire spares Woodside houses
By GREG MOORE
Express Staff Writer
Light winds and quick action from local and federal fire fighting
teams kept a brush fire near South Woodside from burning any houses Thursday night.
According to Wood River Fire and Rescue Chief Bart Lassman, the fire
began shortly before 6:45 p.m. Lassman said the fire appears to have been started by
people, but that its exact cause is still under investigation.
Lassman said flames up to 15 feet high swept up the sage-covered
hillside and burned about 40 acres before being contained about 8:30 p.m.
Lassman said about 34 firefighters from Wood River Fire and Rescue, the
Hailey Fire Department and the Bellevue Fire Department were assisted in the suppression
effort by 60 firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. He
said the federal agencies also supplied two helicopters and one retardant-dropping plane.
Lassman said the local departments first arrayed six engines and a
water tender along houses near the intersection of Shenandoah Drive and Berry Creek Drive,
where the fire began.
"We were getting some down-canyon winds that were blowing the fire
back downhill and threatening some structures there," Lassman said.
He said residents helped by watering down their roofs and lawns with
hoses.
Lassman said firefighters then flanked the blaze and began to
extinguish it. He said local firefighters left the scene about 10:30 p.m., but that the
Forest Service and BLM people spent the night at Wood River High School and returned early
the next morning to mop up hot spots. He said the fire was extinguished by about noon
Friday.
