BY KAREN BOSSICK
Wood River Valley residents were able to drain the bathtubs in which they had stored reserve water Sunday after a threat to the local power by the Mammoth Fire near Shoshone was snuffed out.
Bureau of Land Management fire fighters and Idaho Power Co. representatives were able to save an endangered transmission line north of Shoshone, following a night of setting backfires. And Idaho Power crews readied a backup feed to Blaine County in case it was needed.
The Blaine County Sheriff’s Department notified valley residents at 10 a.m. Sunday that the threat of an outage had passed, even though the fire was still burning in the area.
Idaho Power representatives had warned Blaine County residents that they could lose power for up to two days if something happened to the 138-kV power line that serves the valley.
While they could breathe easier about their electricity, some Wood River Valley residents had trouble breathing on Sunday due to a smoky haze trapped in the valley. The Department of Environmental Quality urged Wood River Valley residents to limit outdoor activities, as the air quality was unhealthy due to smoke from fires burning in British Columbia.
A stronger red air alert was issued in Nampa, Meridian and McCall.
The air had cleared locally by midday at some higher elevations, such as Trail Creek Summit. The smoke had cleared out of Sun Valley by the time the Sun Valley Symphony mesmerized the crowd with Alex Orfaly's world premiere of a piece featuring 64 percussion instruments. And it’s hoped that rain on Monday or Tuesday will clean the air around Sun Valley.
The Mammoth Fire, which was reported at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 4, continued to grow after destroying one home and a couple sheds. Wind gusts of 30 miles per hour caused it to triple in size from about 20,000 acres at the end of Saturday to 60,000 acres by mid-morning Sunday, according to BLM officials. Officials later revised the estimated number of acres burning to 47,000..
The fire burned aggressively throughout the night, pushing the northern flank to the Picabo Desert Road just south of Timmerman Hill, said Kelsey Brizendine, spokesman for the BLM. Crews worked Sunday to put in containment lines to hold it there as other crews built a line around the southern flank of the fire.
Brizendine said firefighters hoped to be helped by lighter winds and higher relative humidity on Sunday. But thunderstorms heading north from Nevada could reignite devil winds.
Crews had originally hoped to have the fire contained by Sunday night before it blew up on them on Saturday. Now, there is no estimate on when the fire will be contained.
Smoke has limited the ability of firefighters to fight the fire from the air.
Wood River Valley residents report they have had no trouble driving between the valley and Twin Falls, although the smoke can sometimes be troublesome.
The cause of the fire remains unknown.
Meanwhile the Shoestring Fire, located six miles north of Wendell, grew from 12,000 acres on Saturday to 30,000 acres on Sunday.
It, too, pushed north on Saturday night, causing firefighters to conduct burnout operations along Highway 26 between Gooding and Shoshone. And Gooding Rural Fire Department stationed engines at structures as a precaution. No structures are currently being threatened.
The cause is unknown, but the BLM hopes to contain it by 6 p.m. tonight and have it under control by 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 9.
The Powerline Fire, which started on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, also burned aggressively throughout Saturday night.
Forty-foot tall flames are burning grass, sagebrush and juniper four miles southwest of Pocatello and is crossing onto Caribou-Targhee National Forest lands. Firefighters worked in Crystal Creek and in the Michaud Creek area to keep the fire from entering Trail Creek.
A Type II Great Basin Incident Command Team arrived on Saturday. The 46,000-acre fire was human caused and is under investigation.