Fire crews reporting progress

BOISE – A massive wildfire that has scorched about 1,030 square miles in Southern Idaho and northern Nevada could be contained as early as today or Monday, an official said Saturday.

The lightning-caused Murphy Complex of fires is about 80 percent contained, said fire information officer Pam Bierce.

“The rain really helped us the other day, which helped bring up that containment,” Bierce said. “There are still some hot spots we’re working on.”

The Boise-based National Interagency Fire Center reported Saturday that fire activity remained relatively unchanged from Friday, with 12 large wildfires that had scorched about 1,500 square miles in the state.

Bierce said two fires started near the Murphy Complex by lightning strikes late Friday and early Saturday morning were quickly put out by crews available for just such a contingency.

She said about 1,200 firefighters and managers are at the fire, and that rehabilitation efforts have started in some areas.

“For the most part, the northern perimeter is holding,” Bierce said.

But firefighting efforts continue on some parts of the giant blaze, she said, with about 65 miles of fire lines left to be built on the northern part of the fire and about 20 miles on the southern portion.

Bierce said the fire hasn’t caused any serious injuries to people, but cattle in summer grazing areas have died.

“We know that there was a lot of grazing land and livestock lost, but I don’t have an approximate number on that,” she said.

In North Idaho at the Poe Cabin Fire, 619 firefighters and managers are now dealing with that blaze along with some National Guard troops that are manning roadblocks, said Kim Nelson, fire information officer.

She said she had no information on where the National Guard troops were based, though they came from the local area.

She also said that firefighters on Saturday found a remote, unoccupied mobile home had been destroyed by the fire, the cause of which has yet to be determined.

The fire, burning about six miles southwest of White Bird, was about 70 square miles and about 40 percent contained on Saturday, she said.

Firefighters were concentrating on the southern portion of the fire where buildings were threatened, Nelson said, and preparing for the fire to move into the Hells Canyon Wilderness Area. She said crews would continue to try and put the fire out in the wilderness but that safety was a factor.

“A lot of that wilderness is extreme hard country,” Nelson said. “We’re not willing to sacrifice the life of a firefighter to suppress a fire in there.”

Crews were still protecting some 100 buildings, including 50 homes, she said.