A brush fire that erupted in southern Blaine County Monday morning burned approximately 420 acres of public land before it was fully controlled by firefighters.
The Spud Fire started at approximately 9:30 a.m. Monday on Bureau of Land Management land southeast of Timmerman Hill, in an area accessed by Picabo Desert Road and Spud Patch Road. The area, which is dominated by grass and sagebrush, is east of Magic Reservoir, on the east side of state Highway 75.
Sky Buffat, fire information officer for the BLM, said the federal agency has determined that the fire was human-caused, mainly because no lightning strikes were recorded in the area at the time. An investigation into the cause of the blaze is expected to last about two weeks, she said.
The BLM fire department dispatched five fire engines, firefighting aircraft, a water tender and a bulldozer to the scene, Buffat said. The BLM was assisted by local fire departments, including Wood River Fire & Rescue, which sent two engines to fight the fast-moving blaze.
The fire was contained within a fire line at approximately 2 p.m. It was fully extinguished at approximately 10 p.m., Buffat said.
No structures were lost to the flames, Buffat said.
Buffat said cooperation between federal and local fire agencies is critical in fighting fires on federal lands, which are abundant in central Idaho. A reciprocal contract between the BLM and local fire departments stipulates that the local departments dispatched to a fire on BLM land work for two hours without compensation, and vice versa, she noted. Any work done after the two-hour mark is billed.
"A lot of times, a rural fire department can get there faster than we can," Buffat said.
Photo by David N. Seelig
