White flakes gently fluttered through the air on Wednesday afternoon at Tamarack Resort as a chorus of engines buzzed out of sight up the mountain.
Most winter days at Tamarack sound something like this, but on Wednesday, it was ash falling—not snow—and the droning engines belonged to chainsaws instead of snowmobiles.
A dry lightning storm on Tuesday night sparked several wildfires about 1.5 miles south of the resort at about 10 p.m. The fires have since burned an estimated 1,000 acres as of Wednesday afternoon, said Mike Williamson, a spokesperson for the Boise National Forest.
“We don’t have a real accurate picture of the acreage yet,” Williamson said. “Hopefully we will tomorrow, after we get a flight on it.”
The blaze consists of multiple fires that are all in the same area—the Rock Fire, the Lone Tree Fire, and the Duck Fire. Flames could be seen from downtown Donnelly on Wednesday as dark smoke billows poured off the fires and cast a grey sky over much of the area.
Overnight response
The fires were reported shortly after 10 p.m. on Tuesday, at which point Williamson said firefighters were immediately deployed.
“We had crews on it all night and there’ll be continual coverage fighting this fire,” he said.
Williamson does not have exact numbers, but estimated about 100 personnel are currently battling the fire, including a fleet of nearly 20 airplanes and helicopters. No containment has been achieved so far.
“I think all the air resources that we asked for are getting filled,” he said. “So we’re hitting it as hard as we can.”
Crews currently consist of personnel from the Payette and Boise forests, as well as the Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association and local fire departments.
Tamarack shuts down operations
No evacuations have been issued so far, but Tamarack closed daily operations on Wednesday “out of an abundance of caution,” said Graham Hetland, a spokesperson for the resort.
“This is not an official evacuation,” Hetland said. “We have simply reduced staff to minimum staffing levels, including on-mountain personnel.”
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The resort also turned on snowmaking guns to wet vegetation in the base area and reduce the risk of ignition. It is currently asking guests not to visit the resort.
Nearby residents ordered to ‘Ready’ evacuation stage
Three evacuation zones along West Mountain Road were moved to the “Ready” designation by Valley County, meaning residents of the zones should stay alert for updates and consider evacuation plans.
The zones generally encompass all of West Mountain Road from the Tamarack Falls Fishing Bridge to near Sugarloaf Island.
Valley County uses a three-tiered “Ready. Set. Go” system to help residents prepare for evacuation. A live map of evacuation zones is available on the county’s website.
Tuesday night’s storm also ignited two wildfires near Eagle’s Nest on Warm Lake Road, though Williamson did not have details on those fires on Wednesday.
Shifting weather fueling new fire starts
The storm continued a wave of consistent fire activity in the region dating to Aug. 1 due to a series of thunderstorms. In the last week alone, a dozen small fires were extinguished on the Payette, said Kelly Martin, a spokesperson for the agency.
Despite increased lightning, the recent storms coincided with significant rainfall that helped counteract a dry spring that had wildfire risk indicators at “record levels” in June, Martin said.
“The weather patterns shifted in mid-July and the Payette started getting cooler and wetter and our indices dropped down to below normal,” she said. “Most of the fires have remained small due to the moisture associated with the storms but also a heavy resource response helped suppress them quickly.”
Other wildfire updates
Most efforts in recent days were focused on the Quartz Fire near Granite Lake, which was caused by lightning and flared up on Sunday morning. The fire was about 12 acres as of Wednesday and about 40% contained.
The Payette had a total of 94 firefighters working wildfires across the forest as of yesterday, though that number is likely to change following the fire starts near Tamarack.
The two largest fires currently in the forest are both within the Frank Church – River of No Return Wilderness. The Big Bear Fire is now about 15,000 acres with 70% containment. The Rush Fire, estimated at about 7,400 acres, is about 90% contained. The fires started on July 9 and July 10.
“Activity on our two large wilderness fires dropped dramatically with the moisture (from recent storms) and those fires have not shown growth in a couple weeks,” Martin said.
Overall, 33 fires on the Payette have been extinguished this season. Martin told Valley Lookout that this fire season is statistically similar to last summer based on the number of fire starts.
