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Idaho wildfire season ending after rain-checked, mild summer

Associated Press

BOISE – Idaho’s typically active wildfire season is closing with a slow fizzle after short bursts of rain and cooler temperatures dampened the state’s tinderbox of fuel.

Roughly 271 square miles in Idaho have burned after 1,090 fires ignited between May and September, according to officials with the Boise-based National Interagency Fire Center. The numbers are the lowest since 2009.

“This year in Idaho was a weird year,” said Jennifer Myslivy, wildfire mitigation specialist with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. “We had fires early on but then the rain would come. It kept the fire season from going crazy.”

None of the wildfires in Idaho grew to more than 156 square miles, which bucks a three-year trend the state held as having some of the nation’s largest and highest-priority wildfires since 2010.

However, that doesn’t mean this year’s season was all tame. Several wildfires threatened homes and other structures while firefighters were often called to suppress the flames in treacherous terrain.

For example, the Big Cougar fire burned about 101 square miles on the Idaho side of the Snake River across from the Oregon and Washington border. Flames threatened more than 200 structures but only nine were lost.

This past week, smoke from wildfires raging in California covered most of southwest Idaho. Air quality alerts were issued throughout the Gem State as Idaho’s own fire officials declared that the state’s wildfire season was almost at a complete halt save for one forest fire in North Idaho.

While fire activity might have been slower overall, state lands officials reported that this year’s Idaho suppression costs on state lands are at record levels, said Idaho Department of Lands spokeswoman Emily Callihan.

Nearly half of the acres burned in Idaho have been on Idaho-owned lands, Callihan said. This has resulted in more than 125 square miles burned on state lands causing the state to pay more than $27 million for the nation’s expert fire crews to come in.