Range fires grow to more than 180,000 acres

Sunday, August 11, 2013
Smoke from the range fires north of Mountain Home produced clouds of billowing smoke that reached Garden Valley, Idaho City and the Boise foothills on Saturday.

A range fire north of Mountain Home is prompting the evacuation of approximately 200 homes from the Mayfield community and its surrounding areas.

The Pony Complex Fire, located below the South Fork of the Boise River, made an aggressive push toward the west on Saturday with Elmore County Sheriff's deputies going door to door to alert residences of the imminent fire danger.

Since the fire started Thursday, the fire has burned more than 100,000 acres.

Meanwhile, a second range fire north of the South Fork of the Boise River has destroyed at least 15 structures as it continued to grow over the past 24 hours.

As of 10 a.m. Sunday, the Elk Complex Fire had grown to more than 80,000 acres and had moved into the Lester and Fall Creek drainage. The fire has also moved west along the South Fork of the Boise River from the Danskin Boat launch and is in the canyon.

Extreme fire behavior caused the fire to cross the South Fork of the Boise River multiple times at both Danskin Bridge and Cow Creek.

At present, the fire is burning out of control. Aerial resources, including helicopters and specially equipped C-130 aircraft are dropping fire retardant and water to help crews on the ground with suppression activities.

On Saturday, eight members from the Mountain Home Fire Department were dispatched to the Pine area to provide structural protection for buildings in the area.

According to information from the Boise National Forest Service, the Elk Complex Fire remained extremely active on Saturday and moved approximately four to six miles to the northeast. The fire is being influenced by a plume dominated event, meaning the high smoke column created its own winds with strong downdrafts and gusty conditions.

Forest service officials expect conditions favoring this type of fire movement over the next few days, with an unstable atmosphere compounded by dry conditions.

Areas just east of the community of Prairie have fire resources in place to protect structures. However, at least four outbuildings were destroyed with the fire burning another 14 outbuildings in different areas.

On Sunday, officials reported that the lodge in Falls Creek and 20 additional structures were not damaged by the fire. However, they believe structures further up the drainage were lost. Meanwhile, the Lester Creek Guard Station was not damaged with fire managers expected to assess the area on Sunday to determine whether it's safe to enter the site.

In other news, a 600-acre spot fire occurred late Saturday on the north side of the South Fork Boise River in the Rock Creek drainage. This is a concern as the fire may move north out of the river corridor and effect areas west of Prairie, forest service officials said.

Due to extreme fire behavior, the Elmore County Sheriff's Department issued evacuation orders for the following areas:

- The community of Prairie and Mayfield, including Regina, Indian Creek and Baseline;

- Anderson Dam Reservoir up Fall Creek Road to Ice Springs Campground and east to Lester Creek Guard Station;

- Danskin fire lookout.

Meanwhile, the following road closures remain in effect:

- Blacks Creek Road off I-84 at the Ada County and Elmore County line

- Indian Creek Road off I-84 at exit 71

- Anderson Ranch Dam south on the Dixie Creek Cut-off to Highway 20

- Prairie Road and Cow Creek Road heading north from Highway 20

- Forest Road 128 from Pine to Falls Creek Road

Boise National Forest officials also initiated a large area closure that extends from the Pine/Featherville road on the east, Forest Road 172 and the William Pogue Trail to the north, the Middle Fork of the Boise River to the Arrowrock Reservoir extending south along the forest boundary to the north side of Anderson Ranch Reservoir. Additionally, the Trinity Lakes Recreation area is closed.

A public meeting for Pine residents is scheduled for 6 p.m. Sunday at the Pine Senior Center.

Fire managers and law enforcement officials are strongly concerned with the number of people in the forest that was closed earlier. Those recreating or riding ATVs in the area and others were contacted and asked to leave the area.

With the rapid rates of spread, it would be very easy for someone to become trapped, forest officials said. In addition, the limited road access is a factor in public safety.

However, the Anderson Ranch Reservoir, the Middle Fork of the Boise River Road and the Pine/Featherville Road is open to public use.

The American Red Cross moved its evacuation shelter to the Our Lady of Good Counsel Fellowship Hall in Mountain Home for residents that were displaced due to the fires.

Stage I fire restrictions remain in effect including using a campfire outside of an agency designated recreation site until further notice. Details are available online at www.blm.gov/id.

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