Fire Losses In State Declined Last Year

Fire and fire losses, both in lives and property, declined statewide in 1995, but the dollar loss last year was still the second-highest on record.

The state fire marshal’s annual report showed 15 people, including two Kuna firefighters, died in blazes that caused just under $32.5 million in damage.

In 1994, 17 people died in fires that caused a record $33.5 million in losses. The number of fires was off modestly from just over 6,000 to 5,841 last year.

“It tells us we’re doing our job,” said Bob Maines, the deputy chief of a volunteer fire department in North Idaho.

And Hayden Fire Marshal Gavle Anson speculated that the public has become more careful.

State Fire Marshal Don McCoy said more attention still must given to fire prevention education and building and fire code enforcement.

But, McCoy added, “Idaho’s population growth does not appear to be having a dramatic effect on the number of fire responses we’re experiencing.”

The incidence of arson was also down significantly. The number of incidents dropped from 161 to 121, and 1995 losses at $4.4 million were just over half of $9.4 million a year earlier.

One of the costliest fires, and one believed to have been intentionally set, was the March 1995 blaze that destroyed the Meridian Middle School metal and wood shop and two classrooms. Officials estimated the loss at $1 million.

The worst occurred last September when flames destroyed a $2.5 million hops warehouse in Caldwell and then two weeks later claimed a $2.1 million Mormon Church center in Nampa.

The two Kuna firefighters, Bill Buttram, 31, and Josh Oliver, 18, were killed a year ago when a range fire overtook their water truck. They were the first firefighter deaths since 1992 when Forest Service firefighter Julie Ann Young, 20, was killed fighting a wildfire near Cascade.

Only two other fires caused multiple deaths last year. Two children, Bryan Kielty, 5, and Felicia Ells, 4, died in March when they were trapped in the back of a small guest house in Priest River where they were spending the night with their mother. A portable space heater in their room apparently ignited. Their mother, Celeste Kielty, was rescued from the other room by friends who where also sleeping there.

And last September, Lydia Stone, 83, and her son, Mike, 49, died of smoke inhalation when fire broke out in their Eagle home.