Wildfires increase around Idaho
BOISE – Wildfires expanded exponentially in the pine forests of the Idaho Rockies on Friday, with crews battling hot temperatures, steep terrain and flames racing through tinder-dry timber stands.
The Elkhorn Fire was spotted late Thursday at 200 acres and grew to 1,000 acres, or 1.5 square miles, overnight. Firefighters worked Friday to keep it away from the Sheep Creek subdivision near the village of North Fork, about 25 miles north of the town of Salmon.
“It’s not threatening structures at this time, but we are keeping a close eye on that subdivision about four miles away,” said Kent Fuellenbach of the Salmon-Challis National Forest in Salmon. “Crews are trying to anchor the west end of the fire to keep it from advancing in that direction.”
The Trailhead Fire near Grandjean about 10 miles west-southwest of Stanley also grew fourfold by Thursday night from 250 to 1,000 acres, with crews observing individual trees “torching,” which happens when surface fires periodically radiate enough heat to cause the tops of trees and shrubs to burst into flames.
“They had some uphill runs and there was a large unburned island in the center of the fire that ignited and put up a very impressive column of smoke that was visible for several miles,” said Ed Waldapfel of the Sawtooth National Forest headquarters in Twin Falls. “The fire is burning in the opposite direction from the Sawtooth Lodge and the Sawtooth Wilderness Outfitters in Grandjean, so there are currently no structures threatened.”
But a weekend forecast of temperatures in the low 90s in the mountains with only 10 percent relative humidity and winds between 2 and 4 mph has fire managers predicting that the Trailhead Fire won’t be contained until the middle of next week.
“It’s going to be a long, tough battle,” said Buz Vanskike, incident commander on the Trailhead Fire. “The terrain is steep, rocky and it’s just plain nasty country to fight fire.”
The Elkhorn and Trailhead were among seven fires burning in Idaho on Friday. The largest was the seven-square-mile Payette Complex, two lightning-caused blazes in the Salmon river drainage north of McCall that were being allowed to burn in timber and cheatgrass under specified conditions for forest rejuvenation.
Nearby, the Quartz Creek fire 6 miles north of the town of Yellow Pine was reduced in estimated size Friday from 100 acres to 70 due to more accurate overnight mapping. The fire was burning actively, with the main fire throwing sparks and flaming debris up to 300 yards ahead of the advancing flames to ignite new spot fires.
In north central Idaho, the Clearwater National Forest at Orofino was allowing the 300-acre, lightning-caused Bar Creek Fire 26 miles northeast of Pierce to continue to burn under prescribed conditions, while in Southern Idaho, the Klosterman Fire was contained 4 miles northwest of Paul after burning about 350 acres of grass and brush-covered rangeland.