Batt Wants Answers On Foothills Fire

Gov. Phil Batt on Thursday questioned why an off-duty Idaho National Guardsman was allowed to use a military rifle and tracer bullets that accidentally started a wildfire in the Boise Foothills.

The Eighth Street Fire has blackened more than 14,000 acres and heavily damaged a $700,000 home on Monday.

Batt wrote Maj. Gen. John Kane, commander of the Idaho National Guard, a terse letter seeking answers to a series of questions about policies on use of weapons and ammunition by off-duty personnel and the state’s potential liability.

But Kane said no policies were violated since Boise Police Cpl. Sherm Fletcher is a member of the Idaho National Guard’s marksmanship team, the only group authorized to have military weapons and ammunition off-duty.

“Whether or not the procedures should be modified, I don’t know,” Batt said after receiving the reply. “It appears rather incongruous to me that we should have a firing range with high-powered weapons in a situation where we could ignite nearby tinder. I think we should review our procedures at the very least.”

More than 370 firefighters were still on the lines of the Eighth Street Fire, and the blaze continued threatening homes and timberland in the Robie Creek and Shafer Butte areas north of Boise.

Fletcher, an off-duty police firearms instructor, was shooting targets at the Boise Police Association’s firing range just north of the city Monday afternoon when a .223-caliber tracer bullet - which ignites as it leaves the barrel - apparently missed its mark.