While the Wood River Valley has been immune from any major wildfires this season, the valley has suffered from a fair amount of haze and foul-smelling air.
The causes of the haze and pungent odor are multiple. Lightning storms last Thursday, Friday and Saturday ignited small fires in the surrounding forests.
The Ketchum Ranger District's North Zone Fire Management Officer Bill Murphy said 11 fires were started in the Sawtooth National Forest, three north of Ketchum and eight in the Fairfield district. All the fires north of Ketchum have been extinguished, while a few fires in the Fairfield district continue to burn.
The burns, however, are controlled and intentional. The goal is to let the fire take its natural course and restore the health of the vegetated area.
"Fire is part of our ecosystem," Murphy said. "With lightning ignitions, fire is sometimes allowed to play its natural role in remote areas."
The BLM also had its fair share of activity over the weekend. One fire in particular was the Bliss Fire, south of Bliss near Bell Rapids Road.
According to Sky Buffat, fire information officer with the BML in Twin Falls, lightning started the fire on Saturday morning. About 1,500 acres are estimated to have burned. At the height of the fire, ten engines and multiple aircraft were dropping retardant. The fire was declared controlled at 6 p.m. Sunday.
Buffat said six fires started from the lightning storm Friday. The other five were mostly single-tree fires or burned just one-tenth of an acre, making the Bliss Fire the only one of any size in the BLM area.
Additionally, in the south zone of the Salmon-Challis National Forest, four fires started following Thursday's thunderstorms. All were extinguished by Saturday morning.
Lani Williams of the Boise Dispatch said at least 30 fires were ignited in and around the Boise National Forest. All were from lightning, and as of Monday they were all contained.
If the weather holds, the Wood River Valley can expect clean and clear skies this week. But with fires in other parts of Idaho as well as California, Washington and Oregon, chances are the smoke will be back again.
