UPDATE: Emergency response terminated for wildfire at INL desert Site

UPDATE: The wildfire on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site is fully contained. The INL emergency response has been terminated. INL and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) crews will continue to monitor until the fire is extinguished.Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) fire crews are working to contain a wildfire, which has burned approximately 1,500 acres on the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) INL site.

The fire is located southwest of U.S. Highway 26, near mile marker 259 – adjacent to the rest stop – and roughly a mile northeast of DOE’s Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC), which is operated by Fluor, Idaho.

The fire is 50 percent contained. It’s estimated the fire will be fully contained by Thursday evening.

All facilities at the INL Site have large fire buffer zones around their perimeters.

The DOE Idaho Operations Office, INL and Fluor, Idaho leadership are working together to ensure the safety of staff at facilities on the site. RWMC and all other INL Site facilities are currently operating normally.

New information:

Seven fire trucks have responded to the fire, four from INL and three from BLM.

Four bulldozers have responded, two each from INL and BLM.

INL emergency responders are responding to the incident.

State, county, and tribal officials have been notified.