As the Castle Rock Fire began to threaten homes along state Highway 75 south of St. Luke's Hospital over the weekend, Idaho Power sought to protect the single transmission line that provides electricity to the northern part of the Wood River Valley.
"We took bulldozers in and bladed around wooden structures from the Valley Club (north of Hailey) to the Ketchum substation," said Idaho Power Area Leader Jim Bell on Monday.
Bell said that this preventive action started on Sunday, Aug. 26, and was completed the following day. Idaho Power Line Crew Foreman Cary Darling said this included cutting brush back 15 to 20 feet from the bases of 78 wooden utility structures, each made of two to three poles. They also wrapped a number of poles with a fire-retardant material, which Bell said resembled aluminum foil.
"It's not for me to say if the danger has gone down," Bell said Monday. "But judging by the direction of the smoke, it still looks as if the risk is there."
Bell said that the precautions were necessary, especially since the single power line is providing electricity to the firefighters' camp at River Run.
"If that line goes down, we lose power from East Fork to Galena," Bell said.
If the line was in fact damaged by fire, Bell said it would be difficult to estimate how long it would take to fix, as this would largely depend on when incident command said it was safe for a repair crew to enter the area. Darling added that Idaho Power is preparing a number of generators that would supply power to critical areas, such as the water and sewer plants and Ketchum City Hall. However, these generators won't be brought up to Ketchum unless the fire crosses Highway 75, Darling said.
"From the Valley Club clear north is a concern," Bell said. "And we want to mitigate the risk as best we can."
