Fire crews let fire burn near Featherville

The South Barker Fire near Featherville has slowly grown to nearly 5,000 acres as forest officials continue to keep a close eye on the fire that they are letting burn in an effort to improve forest health.

The fire was sparked by lightning Aug. 7 in an area that the Sawtooth National Forest had marked for controlled burns this fall and next spring, in order to remove underbrush and other detrious on the forest floor.

The low-intensity fire is generating considerable smoke in the Pine/Featherville area and has resulted in the closure, for safety reasons, of a number of forest roads and campgrounds in the area.

The fire is mainly moving through the underbrush, with only rare cases of trees "torching," and most of those dry, dead trees that had died from insect infestation. Most of the Ponderosa Pine that makes up the bulk of the forest arbor is being unaffected by the fire, according to Sawtooth National Forest Fire Information Officer Venetia Gempler.

Nevertheless, an unusually large number of firefighters for a relatively small fire, 229, are on hand to monitor the blaze and contain it within a 90,000-acre area where the forests wildfire management plan will allow it to burn. Forest officials do not believe it will come close to burning that entire area, and when it moves outside the management area, as it did last week when the fire jumped the road and river into the Boise National Forest, it is being aggressively attacked.

The finger of fire that moved over the South Fork burned only 87 acres before it was extinguished. Helicopters and fire retardant dropping aircraft are available to assist the ground crews, which have occasionally set backfires to help direct the fire into the areas where forest officials want it to burn.

Forest officials were expected to meet with area residents Tuesday at the South Fork Senior Center to answer questions and provide information to local residents about the fire.

Monday, a change in weather conditions with warmer temperatures and increased winds helped the fire burn further into the Boise National Forest above Little Cayuse drainage.

To monitor the increased smoke, the Department of Environmental Quality is working with the Sawtooth National Forest to place air quality monitors in the valley. The monitors are expected to be in place this weekend.

Crews will continue structure assessment, monitor the fire backing down to the Shake Creek Guard Station, and patrol along the South Fork of the Boise River Road.

"The South Fork of the Boise River Road is on the south flank of the fire, that's where campgrounds are. We don't want anything rolling down into the road," Gempler said, but at the same time, she said, "we want to take the opportunity to meet some forest management objectives."

She explained that the forest fire management plan allows the on-site Wildland Fire Management Team "some parameters. They identify a boundary -- a maximum managable area -- and some objectives we want the fire to accomplish, but not to exceed that boundary area. That boundary is about 90,000 acres. We don't expect that fire to get that large."

The large number of fire crew available is so that "we want to get some benefits out of it (the fire), but we're very conscious of the communities nearby and the Shake Creek Guard station. We just want to make sure, because we're using this fire for (forest health) benefits, but it is close to communities and values we want to protect, that there's enough people on hand to deal with anything that might flare up.

"Most of the fire is doing some really good things on the land," she said, cleaning out underbrush and duff, the detrius below the trees.

In order to protect some of the trees, fire crews have been cleaning out the duff under the trees in advance of the fire, a move that would protect the trees in the event a major fire came through at some time in the future. "We had some duff pulled from the base of some old-growth Ponderosa Pine to save the trees and help preserve the elk winter grounds.

"We want (the fire) to reduce fuel load and get rid of some of the bug-killed timber."

The fire is generally moving north and east following Forest Road 227 (the South Fork Road), but has not backed down into Shake Creek, Gempler said.

The fire crew base camp is located at Kelley Flats, which is closed to the public.

Due to the proximity of the fire and for the safety of firefighters and the public, several campground, road, and trail closures have been put into place.

Campground closures include: Abbot, Chaparral, Bird Creek, Willow Creek, Baumgartner and Kelley Flats. Willow Creek Transfer Station is also closed.

Road closures are:

* South Fork Boise River Road (FS #227) from the Sawtooth National Forest boundary to Baumgartner Campground.

* Barker Gulch Road (FS#001).

* Marsh Creek Road (FS #074).

* Shake Creek Road (FS#005).

* Willow Creek Road (FS #008).

* Kelley Flat Road (FS#071).

Trail closures are:

* Shake Creek Trail (FS#028).

* Willow Creek Trail (FS#018) including FS#026 and #025.

* Van Gulch Trail (FS#023) including FS#031.

* Big Water Gulch Trail (FS#022).

* Little Water Gulch Trail (FS#020).

All closures will be effect until further notice but Gempler said the closed roads and campgrounds are expected to be reopened "as soon as it is safe to do so."