Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Ketchum customers smoked out

Businesses begin to reel as Wagon Days canceled


By MATT FURBER
Express Staff Writer

Keith Perry, co-owner of Perry?s Restaurant, says business is down as much as $2,000 per day since the Castle Rock Fire swept into town. Photo by Willy Cook

The smoke curtain has come down heavy on businesses in Ketchum this week. First, fire shut down recreation on popular trails west of the city. Then, as thousands of people vacated their homes they took their wallets with them. It was touch and go Monday afternoon, and then cancellation of Wagon Days delivered the death knoll to summer's typically bright late-summer tourism season.

"We had our worst day of the year yesterday," said Iconoclast Books owner Gary Hunt on Monday. "Considering it should be the busiest time of year, it's worse than slack."

Scouting the southern-most reach of the fire from Deer Creek with Bill Whitaker, a Forest Service range technician, Monday morning, fires merely smoldered. As the air heated and winds picked up, so too did the smoke. By 9:30 a.m. pilots had surveyed where to dump fire retardant, and business owners were weighing in on the impact of the fire to their bottom lines.

Hunt said his business is operating at one tenth of his typical level for this time of year.

"Everybody's feeling it because everyone's leaving town," Hunt said. "Everyone who would normally be a tourist here is going elsewhere. We have been selling a lot of road atlases, though. People are coming in to see where else they can go."

By afternoon Ketchum Mayor Randy Hall announced that Wagon Days, one of the Wood River Valley's premier cultural events, was cancelled.

"This was not an easy decision for the Ketchum City Council, and several factors contributed to the decision," Hall said in a press release posted Monday afternoon. "First, another weather front is headed for the valley next weekend. If we are hit with high winds again, the Labor Day events will interfere with our ability to meet the safety needs of the community. I will not compromise the fire fighting effort nor compromise the safety of our community."

By most accounts, smoke has thwarted citizens' and visitors' enjoyment of the area. Many Wood River Valley inhabitants fled to the Sawtooth Valley where they cooled their jets at Alturas, Petit, Redfish and Sawtooth lakes. Others escaped to rock climb at the City of Rocks.

Regulars at Perry's Restaurant have also left town, including many second homeowners who owner Keith Perry fears may be gone for the remainder of the season. Debby and Jim Rutledge, two faithful customers, were Perry's lingering customers on Friday as they ate a final meal before heading to their winter home in Sarasota, Fla., Sunday.

"It makes us sad to see the smoke furling up through all the trails we love to hike," said Debby Rutledge. "The fire has definitely caused a decrease in the quality of the air. I have a constant headache."

Others nodded in agreement.

Since Friday St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center has essentially closed up shop except for emergencies.

"We are really only seeing emergencies at this point," said Tanya Keim, the hospital's director of community relations. The hospital discharged 10 patients over the weekend as part of the mandatory evacuation, and medics at the River Run base of operations handled most fire fighter health issues.

By Sunday afternoon, at a rate of $1 million per day, fire fighting costs soared to $9.2 million, said Dennis Stevens, the financial section chief for the U.S. Forest Service. Stevens is assisting the Incident Management Team fighting the Castle Rock Fire.

In an interview at River Run Lodge, Stevens and Terri Spanel, who watches the books for the wildfire response, explained what, if any, funds trickle into the local economy.

"We have a national caterer," said Spanel, who added that most resources in support of the fire fighters come from elsewhere with the exception of patronage at local restaurants and hotels and some food. "They (the caterers) are supported by off-site buying. It does help the local community."

Many fire vehicles have been refueling at local gas stations. Fuel tenders at River Run typically fuel fire engines, Stevens said.

Atkinsons' Markets are now delivering about 3,000 hand-made sandwiches per day to fire fighters, said Monte Brothwell, the Hailey grocery store manager.

"It takes a little bit," Brothwell said, speaking to the effort going into fueling the firefighters and somehow foreshadowing the Wagon Days cancellation that came shortly after an interview with him. "We don't really know the impact (on business) at this present point. It might be off a little. But, if they don't get smoke out of Ketchum by next weekend, it will definitely have an impact."

The Wagon Days cancellation came with an almost audible sigh of disappointment.

"It was gut wrenching," said Carol Waller, the Executive Director of the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau. "It is a matter of risk management. Every community in the county is being taxed already. There is no back up. It certainly was no easy decision. Safety is the big issue."

In 2006 local option tax revenues from liquor, lodging and retail sales for the month of August in Ketchum were $446,000. The 2007 Wagon Days would have been the 49th year of the event. Despite heavy disappoint and the devastation of fire and smoke there have been positive voices and encouraging signs in the community.

"We understand the impact this will have on local businesses," Mayor Hall said in the press release. "We thank everyone for their understanding, and especially thank all the volunteers for their hard work on this event. You can expect next year's Wagon Days to be bigger and better than ever."

Sturtevant's Mountain Outfitters General Manager Jeff Davis said he was hopeful outdoor enthusiasts will still come back for the store's annual Labor Day sale.

"It has definitely affected our sales. We were having sales that were tracking above last year at the beginning of August," Davis said. "We'll see if we break even. We are already cutting down staffing hours. Sunday, we closed all three stores at noon, which has never happened. We are always open."

Davis and others are already curious to see what opportunities will rise from the flames in terms of recreation, especially if the smoke clears sooner than later.

"It will be interesting to see when the incident commander lets people back in," he said, explaining that fire can be a positive spin for mountain bikers because fires could open up a new slew of trails. "September is some of the best riding. There will be a drove of curious bikers."

Tim Bateman, a guide with Western Spirit Cycling Adventures, flew over the Castle Rock Fire in its infancy on Friday, Aug. 18, on his way back from Atlanta with guests who had enjoyed the company's hot springs tour.

"We flew a direct route right over what we ride," Bateman said. "We saw the first pilots dumping water on the fire. I knew it was in the general vicinity of what we use."

Undaunted, Western Spirit set off again Monday with two groups from Ketchum for the company's last trips of the season.

Waller added that the Wagon Days announcement came with a discussion of ways to assist business owners.

"We've had conversations about what small business assistance loans and what kind of aid can we get at any level to help mitigate this impact," Waller said.

Meanwhile, fires continue to burn and feeding fire fighters is only one aspect of the economic balance in the Wood River Valley.

Perry said the fire has scorched his bottom line with losses getting deeper the longer smoke and fires persist.

"(Sunday) we were over $2,000 down from the same day last year," said Perry, who has been tracking the change in his business since the fire began Aug. 17. "It started at 25 percent down. Every day it's gotten worse."

Stevens said some of that money that goes to fuel vehicles should go back into the economy.

The single engine airplanes that spread fire retardant buy fuel at the airport, said Pete Kramer, chief of airfield operations and emergency services. Like a "corkage" fee at a restaurant, the huge Sky Crane helicopters paid a fuel flow fee of 20 cents per gallon to Friedman while they were flying water loads.

But business success still holds in the balance at Friedman, said Airport Manager Rick Baird. He said the airport's two commercial air carriers and Sun Valley Aviation reported Monday that they were beginning to see the impact of cancellations.

"One of the air carriers told me they had three cancellations today because people they were staying with were saying 'air quality is bad, don't come,'" Baird said. "The whole experience challenges the airport to make adjustments and accommodations to fight the fire. I don't know if it balances out or not."

Smoke continues to be a major source of disruption even obscuring the runway on certain mornings. However, at Sun Valley Resort smoke has been spotty at the worst of times, said Jack Sibbach, the resort's director of marketing and public relations.

The Danny Thompson Memorial golf tournament in Sun Valley went off without a hitch last weekend, although spouses who hiked the Proctor Mountain Loop and Corral Creek on Friday breathed a fair share of smoke, which waved through the atmosphere mostly obscuring views of Bald Mountain.

Monday morning the Sun Valley resort parking lots looked vacant. However, Sibbach said the resort hosted about 200 guests over the weekend and had seen only 20 cancellations, mostly due to health concerns. The resort was ready to welcome two large groups scheduled to visit this week. One small impact to Sun Valley Co.'s business has been the closure of the ski lift. The resort suffered a blow of about 300 summer-season lift tickets a week, but at the ice rink it was business as usual, and the air felt cool and fresh.

"We're still open for business," Sibbach said. "The word is optimism today."

Although the word came before the Wagon Days cancellation, it came after fire crews beat back the flames on the back side of Baldy. The flames came within 50 feet of setting the Seattle Ridge Lodge alight.

Where the smoke has abated, blue skies prevail. Outside the filtered rooms of St. Luke's some of the best air quality in the valley can found at Galena Lodge where the final Mountain Bike Monday was scheduled under clear skies. Ironically, the best guarantee of clean air is probably indoors and comes with a $10 price tag. Last Thursday, Zenergy, the athletic club at Thunder Spring announced day passes for a safe place to exercise.

"We installed a charcoal air filter system that offers a clean and smoke-free environment," said Kerry Samudio, Zenergy's director of marketing. "We're happy to open our doors to the public. With the valley being in a crisis I feel that everyone wants to step up and do what they can."




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