A small, 20-acre wildfire burning deep within the central portion of the 217,088-acre Sawtooth Wilderness was apparently human-caused, Sawtooth National Forest Fire Information Officer Julie Thomas reported Tuesday.
The Everly Fire, located one mile southwest of 9,852-foot Mount Everly in the upper headwaters of the Queens River, was first reported to the U.S. Forest Service on Sunday, July 1. The remote blaze is located just off the main pack trail that traverses the Queens River and is burning in a rugged area forested with subalpine fir trees, Thomas said.
"It's steep and rocky," she said. "All those wonderful things we find in the wilderness."
Thomas said that while the exact cause of the fire is not known at this time, its close proximity to the trail suggests it was likely started by someone tossing a cigarette on the side of the trail or a campfire that spread into the surrounding vegetation.
"It's common sense, I guess," Thomas said.
In recognition of the fire's location within a federally designated wilderness area, the 13-member fire crew from the Sawtooth National Forest working the blaze is using "light on the ground," minimum impact fire suppression tactics, she said.
On the recent Trail Creek Fire that burned some 290 acres several miles northeast of Sun Valley, fire crews working the fire on the ground dug clear down to the mineral soil level in constructing their fire line, Thomas said. For the Everly Fire, the Sawtooth National Forest fire crew is attempting to not dig down so far in their constructing fire lines.
"They'll try their best to not use those tactics," Thomas said.
The Forest Service's let-it-burn wildfire policy for designated wilderness areas and other select roadless areas only allows the agency to let naturally occurring blazes burn unimpeded, she said. Fires determined to be human-caused are not allowed to burn unchecked no matter their location.
"That's the difference," Thomas said. "It was decided that suppression would take place."
Because of the fire's remoteness, the Forest Service chose to fly the 13-member crew in by helicopter early Monday morning, she said. The closest access point for hiking into the area is the Queens River Trailhead, which is eight miles southwest of the Everly Fire.
Matt Filbert, fuels planner for the north zone of the Sawtooth National Forest, is the incident commander on the Everly Fire.
The extreme fire danger that exists across the region has precipitated a discussion among fire managers from the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Idaho Department of Lands considering whether emergency fire restrictions are warranted, Thomas said.
"Conditions are speaking to it, but it hasn't been decided yet," she said. "The conversation is taking place."
While she wouldn't speculate as to exactly when such a decision by officials might be made, Thomas did say Tuesday that fire restrictions likely would not be put in place in time for the Fourth of July holiday. For that to happen, the public would have to be given proper notice, including signage at key locations on public land, and fire crews would have to begin conducting extra fire patrols, she said.
"We don't have the time to do what those restrictions require," she said.
More conceivable would be fire restrictions implemented by next week at the earliest, she said.
Thomas said in times of extreme fire danger, the Forest Service can impose one of the following types of fire restrictions:
- Stage 1 fire restrictions: Fires, campfires and stove fires are prohibited unless they're located within a designated campsite. Also, smoking is prohibited except in buildings, vehicles or in a designated recreation site.
- Stage 2 fire restrictions: the same as Stage 1 fire restrictions except that operating motorized vehicles off of designated roads and trails and using chainsaws and other forestry-related equipment is also prohibited.
