Disaster loans offered after fire

KETCHUM, Idaho – Business owners who lost money because of a wildfire that kept away tourists during a major holiday for central Idaho’s resort area are lining up to apply for disaster loans.

“With the fire, everyone left town,” said Kingsley Murphy, owner of the Rickshaw restaurant in Ketchum. “What would normally be our busiest time turned out like slack.”

Slack time for the region normally is in the fall, when tourists are scarce.

Fire managers declared the Castle Rock fire contained on Sept. 4, but not before the 78-square-mile blaze had forced the evacuations of more than 2,000 homes and came within 50 yards of a $12 million Sun Valley ski lodge atop Bald Mountain. For nearly two weeks, the fire made advances toward homes outside Ketchum and was the most prominent wildfire in the state.

The fire also forced the cancellation of the Western-themed Wagon Days events that usually draws thousands of tourists over the Labor Day Weekend.

Carol Waller, executive director of the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber and Visitors Bureau, estimated the loss at $1 million to $2 million.

That led to the availability of Economic Injury Disaster Loans, and on Thursday the U.S. Small Business Administration opened an office in Hailey.

Besides Murphy, about a dozen other business owners went to the office on the morning it opened, the Idaho Mountain Express reported. Loans available through the office can be up to $1.5 million at an interest rate of 4 percent with a maximum of 30 years.

Kevin Wynne, communication specialist for the Small Business Administration, said loan officers look at previous years’ tax records and balance sheets to determine losses caused by the fire to make decisions about loan amounts.

“We don’t want to end up hurting businesses further by having them become overextended,” Wynne said. “We will provide what they need to run their businesses, and they can always come back and apply for another loan.”

He said he expects seven to eight loan applications a day until the office closes Sept. 27. After that, loans for business owners in the area will be available by phone until June 11, 2008.