Professor dies in wildfire

BOISE – A Boise State University professor died in a wildfire that burned at least 19 houses and forced the evacuation of more than 100 people in Boise, officials confirmed Tuesday.

Forensic tests were pending and the cause of death remained undetermined, but Ada County Coroner Erwin Sonnenberg issued a “tentative identification” of the woman as Mary Ellen Ryder, a professor of English and linguistics who was scheduled to teach her first class of the semester Tuesday.

Firefighters discovered her body inside one of the houses damaged or destroyed Monday when flames fanned by winds gusting to 50 mph spread from a vacant field of sagebrush and cheatgrass up a ridge on the city’s southeast side.

Assistant Fire Marshall Mark Senteno toured the neighborhood Tuesday morning, counting driveways where houses had been reduced to blackened rubble and said 10 had been destroyed.

“This has been the most devastating fire we’ve seen in recent memory,” Fire Chief Dennis Doan said.

Police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower said no other residents were injured, but 17 police officers and at least one firefighter were treated at hospitals for smoke inhalation and other injuries. The cause is under investigation.

More than 100 residents were evacuated before the fire was under control early Tuesday. Many evacuees spent the night at a nearby church and elementary school.

Christopher Lee, 40, and his wife, Mindy, 35, who were raised in the Spokane area, returned early Tuesday morning to find their home was one of several that had burned to the ground.

The couple searched the ashes with the oldest of their five children, Spencer, 14. A firefighter had recovered the melted remnants of a college diploma and a scorched Coleman camping stove.

“Everything’s just gone,” said Spencer Lee, who started school at Les Bois Junior High School a day earlier.