STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTO BY DIANE PEAVEY

What is it about playing with fire when the west is burning up that people don’t understand?

The Blaine County Sheriff’s Department announced Tuesday that a man started a fire by shooting flares into the grass at Craters of the Moon National Monument while the Sharps Fire was still less than a week old.

The Sharps Fire was caused by a man shooting explosive targets in an area six miles east of Bellevue. And on Saturday, Aug. 4, deputies from the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a 66-acre fire started by another man who was shooting flares into the grass in the monument, which sports some rare wildflowers found only there.

A BLM fire investigator reported that Daniel C. Jones, a 41-year-old Rupert man was shooting targets with his family near the Bear Trap Lava Tube Cave in the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. When they were done, Jones began firing flares from a flare launcher, with one starting a small grass fire.

He and his family attempted to put the fire out before calling 911. Fire crews from Bureau of Land Management-Twin Falls District extinguished the blaze. The Blaine County sheriff’s Office is conducting the criminal investigation and will send criminal charges to the Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Blaine County sheriff Steve Harkins said this incident and the Sharps Fire serve as reminders for people to make smart choices about how and where they shoot and what activities they do in the outdoors.

“Everything is tinder dry,” he added.

Light winds and temperatures in the upper 70s and low 80s helped crews make good progress on the 64,000-acre Sharps Fire, now 60 percent contained, on Tuesday. But there was some moderate fire in sagebrush and grass and some torching in timber as temperatures climbed in the afternoon.

A 175-acre burn is planned today near Porcupine Creek, with firefighters dropping what look like ping pong balls to burn out thick pockets of timber to minimize firefighter and public risk and reduce the duration of the incident. There may be an increase in smoke in the area due to this.

Temperatures are expected to climb to 87 to 97 degrees by Thursday with humidity under the critical level of 15 percent10 percent. But winds are expected to stay below 10 miles per hour until Friday when a strong cold front will approach the area, increasing sustained winds to 10 to 16 miles per hour with gusts to 30 miles per hour.

The fire is now contained on the north side to an area a mile east of Fisher Gulch. The entire western perimeter nearest Hailey and Bellevue is contained, as is the southern flank.

The eastern perimeter is contained up to a half mile southwest of Smelter Butte.

A community meeting will be held at 8 p.m. tonight—Wednesday, Aug. 8—in Carey.

Firefighters embedded themselves along the northern flank of the fire on Tuesday, cutting fire lines to contain the fire on the last remaining portion that has not been contained. They built a line from Porcupine Creek east towards several avalanche chutes in an area near Swede Peak and Garfield Mountain.

Firefighters also built hand line on the ridge between Copper and Thompson Creeks towards Little Wood River.

Aerial crews dropped some ignition balls in Porcupine Creek to create preventative burns.

Firefighters also patrolled the perimeter of the fire looking for smoldering embers and flare-ups, while rehabilitating areas they bulldozed to contain the fire on the southern perimeter near Little Wood Reservoir and Muldoon Road.

Fire officials with the Great Basin Type 1 Team cautioned that residents may see smoke in the interior of the burned area for the next few weeks. In addition, swirls of dust and ash often blow through a burned area for a few weeks, deceiving onlookers into thinking the fire has restarted.

Call authorities at 911 only if smoke or flames are present outside of the fire area.

Residents are also advised to be alert for trees or power poles falling over and blocking a roadway. Observers should not touch a power line but, instead, alert authorities.

JUST IN TIME FOR THE FAIR:

Fire crews pulled out of the fairgrounds in Carey just in time for the Blaine County Fair, which runs through Saturday, Aug. 11. Firefighters had been sleeping at the fairgrounds while they focused their efforts on securing the south perimeter of the fire near Carey.

The fair will include a Chuckwagon Dutch Oven Cook-off at 2 p.m. Friday with a Kid’s Rodeo at 7. On Saturday it will include the 4-H Luncheon at noon, followed by the Hometown Rodeo at 7 p.m.

“We’re excited to say that the Blaine County Fair will go on without interruption,” fair officials posted on Facebook.