City fire crews return home following Trinity Ridge Fire duty

Firefighter Chuck Garvey is welcomed home by his wife, Becky, and son, Brady, after the city's eight-person crew returned to Mountain Home on Saturday. The crew spent the past 10 days at a staging area in the Pine area as the Trinity Ridge Fire continued to move toward Featherville.

Families and well wishers gathered at the Mountain Home Fire Station on Saturday to welcome home a team of firefighters that deployed to the Pine area in response to the Trinity Ridge Fire.

The city fire department sent two of its structural trucks and one tanker as well as eight firefighters to a staging area in the mountain community on Aug. 16 as the fire continued to move closer to Featherville.

"The reason why the county had us go up there was to protect structures" directly threatened by the fire, said city fire chief Alan Bermensolo.

Fire vehicles and crews return to the city's fire station following their duty at a staging area in the Pine area over the past 10 days.

After the fire lost its momentum in recent days, crews with the National Forest Service conducted back burns to eliminate undergrowth that would've allowed the blaze to spread into Featherville.

These crews accomplished exactly what they wanted with these back burns, Bermensolo said.

"Featherville is tight," he added. "Because of the back burns, the threat to any structures in the Featherville corridor doesn't exist."

"The main part of the fire and the burnout on a portion near Featherville have merged together, lessening the threat to the community," according to a spokesperson with the National Forest Service office in Boise.

A meeting between city firefighters and authorities battling the blaze emphasized there was no immediate threat to structures to buildings in the area, which allowed the city fire crews to return home. However, the Bermensolo emphasized that his team can return to the area within three hours if the fire poses a new threat to Featherville or other communities in this part of the county.

"If the county and incident commander needs us, we'll be ready to fight if needed," Bermensolo said.

As of Saturday morning, the Trinity Ridge Fire had grown to 119,000. The more than 1,400 fire fighters battling the blaze were expected to continue with burnout activities near Featherville and work to the southwest toward the community of Pine.

Weather conditions forecast for Saturday will present a challenge for firefighers, the National Forest Service spokesperson said. There's a potential for the fire to crown in some areas, meaning the flames will go through tops of trees with a chance of spot fires starting nearly a half mile from the main blaze.