STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK
PHOTOS COURTESY OF BLAINE COUNTY FIRE AND RESCUE
An individual has admitted to starting a wildfire with fireworks in Martin Canyon, according to the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office. An investigation is ongoing.
The fire on Bureau of Land Management property was reported about 5:23 p.m. Thursday, eliciting a response from Blaine County Fire and Rescue and other fire departments.
It raced through grass and sagebrush driven by sustained winds up toward the ridgeline dividing Muldoon Canyon and Slaughterhouse Canyon. Fire activity eased about 3 a.m. when cooler overnight temperatures knocked down the fire’s progression.
Slaughterhouse Canyon was closed and residents told to be ready to evacuate. Those orders were lifted about 10:30 a.m. Friday morning.
Smoke drifted over the Griffin Ranch subdivision to the southwest overnight, but the smoke never reached mid-valley or Ketchum and Sun Valley.
BLM crews spent Friday securing the fire perimeter as temperatures climbed into the 80s. A helicopter dumped water onto the fire.
Officials gave no containment percentage as of Friday afternoon. Smoke billowing from the fire could be seen as far north as St. Luke’s Wood River hospital Friday afternoon.
The fire was reported to be between 500 and1,000 acres late Thursday night.
Fireworks are illegal on BLM property and according to a local ordinance of Blaine County. There have been reports of fireworks starting fires this week in the Colorado Gulch area of Hailey and East Magic Reservoir, despite frequent reminders about how dry conditions are this year.
Another fire in Martin Canyon was triggered in August 2017 by an individual during qtarget practice. It burned 4,024 acres and an inch of rain that fell six months later on the fire scar caused significant damage to Martin Canyon Road making it impassable to motor vehicles.
Firefighters attacked wind-driven fire in tall, dry grass in the canyon east of Bellevue Thursday night.
Fireworks set off in extremely dry conditions are said to have caused a wildfire that rapidly sped up the hillside in Muldoon Canyon.