Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Camas County fire threatens ranches, state land

Blaze was cause of heavy smoke in Wood River Valley


By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer

Fires, like the Trail Creek Fire that burned near Sun Valley in late June, above, have been a common sight throughout Idaho this year. Photo by Willy Cook

A human-caused wildfire that began burning on private land over the weekend has grown to 6,000 acres and is threatening several isolated Camas County ranches as well as significant stands of timber on state land managed by the Idaho Department of Lands.

The Cow Creek Fire, reported to fire officials around 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 11, is located about 13 miles west of Fairfield.

Smoke from the blaze apparently caused the hazy conditions the Wood River Valley area experienced over the weekend, said Brock Astle, fire information officer for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Twin Falls District.

As of late Monday afternoon, the blaze was burning in a mixture of grass, sagebrush and Douglas fir located in hills between the Camas Prairie and the steep upper slopes of the Soldier Mountains, Astle said.

"It's in that transition area where the flats turn into the hill," he said.

The area is composed of private, state and BLM lands north of U.S. Highway 20 between Fairfield and Hill City.

The fire was burning in a generally eastern direction on Sunday, but unpredictable conditions including heavy winds caused it to change course and begin heading north on Monday, Astle said.

State-owned stands of timber threatened by the blaze are valued at upwards of $10 million in the short term, and about $20 million in the long term, he said.

Astle wouldn't comment on the suspected cause of the blaze except to say it did begin on privately owned land in the area.

The fire is within a short distance of reaching U.S. Forest Service lands managed by the Sawtooth National Forest, he said.

A total of 15 engines with the BLM, the Forest Service, Camas County, the National Park Service and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) were working the fire as of Monday, Astle said. He said about 110 firefighters are assigned to the fire.

Astle said steep, rugged terrain has made using the engines difficult, so fire managers have been forced to use hand crews, smoke jumpers and aerial drops of fire retardant to work the blaze.

"The hills make it difficult," he said. "The terrain is pretty rough."

Astle said that as of Monday afternoon, the fire was estimated at 20 percent contained. Fire officials have set a tentative date of Aug. 20 for complete containment of the fire. However, Astle said, that could quickly change depending on weather conditions in the area.

While no other wildfires are burning on lands managed by the Twin Falls District of the BLM, other blazes continue to burn on adjacent U.S. Forest Service lands in the region.

Near the western boundary of the Sawtooth Wilderness Area, the Trapper Ridge Fire continues to grow. The remote 18,347-acre fire is being managed by the Boise National Forest as a wildland fire use blaze, meaning that in general fire managers are letting it burn to achieve resource benefits. Fire crews are spike-camped along the north and west boundaries of the blaze to keep it from progressing north and west into the Payette River drainage. Assisting these crews are several air tankers with retardant and helicopters with water buckets.

The fire is located northeast of Idaho City and west of Lowman just south of the Tenmile Ridge and the Payette River drainage.

A 121,860-acre closure area surrounding the Trapper Ridge Fire is in place and also covers a number of trails and roads in the area.

On Monday, the Web site of the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise was reporting a total of 13 large wildfires covering a total of some 450,000 acres burning throughout Idaho.

Other wildfires in central Idaho region include:

· The Middle Fork Complex: A total of 17,432 acres are burning on this complex of three separate fires located 15 miles northeast of Garden Valley in the Middle Fork of the Payette drainage. On Monday, the complex was reported to be at 90 percent containment.

· The Shower Bath Fire: The 12,900-acre fire on the Salmon-Challis National Forest was at zero percent containment on Monday. The fire is located 18 miles northwest of Challis and is threatening structures. A large fire area closure covering lands both within and outside of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness was expanded on Saturday, Aug. 11.

· The East Zone Complex: This complex on the Payette National Forest is the largest in the state and is made up of three fires covering a total of 94,116 acres. This fire is 25 miles northeast of McCall and is at 15 percent containment. The isolated communities of Secesh and Warren as well as several historic sites and bridges are threatened. Evacuations are in effect and the Valley County Sheriff has ordered a closure of the Lick Creek and Warm Lake roads beginning at the Boise National Forest boundary. Also closed is the Warren Wagon Road from the Secesh River Road to the west end of Warren.




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