BY KAREN BOSSICK
Residents of Old Cutters and Quigley Road are being asked to remain on alert today as firefighters continue to battle a wildfire in Hangman’s Gulch above Old Cutter’s.
The fire, dubbed the Red Devil Fire by the Bureau of Land Management, is estimated to be five acres via GPS mapping. Earlier reports had put it at 30 acres.
The fire was reported at 9:35 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 5. Firefighters received multiple reports of a significant lightning and thunder strike as a lightning storm moved through the area, said Ron Bateman, chief of Wood River Fire and Rescue.
An off-duty assistant fire chief with the Ketchum Fire Department was first to arrive on the scene and reported the fire was a thousand feet above the valley floor between Red Devil and Buttercup mountains.
Crews responded from every fire department in the area, including, Ketchum, Sun Valley, Hailey, Wood River, Bellevue and Carey. BLM firefighters arrived at 12:30 a.m. and got an 11-person fire crew up to the fire by 1:20 p.m. An 11-person crew fought the fire until about 5:30 a.m. while other firefighters provided structure protection to homes in Old Cutters.
Local firefighters came down about 5:30 a.m., said Wood River Fire and Rescue Chief Ron Bateman. The BLM remains on the scene and is plans to have a helicopter on the scene today. Local crews will also provide assistance.
“We’re trying to give attention to winds coming up this afternoon,” said Bateman. “We got a little rain at 1:30 a.m. that helped, though it wasn’t as much as we’d have liked.”
The Blaine County Sheriff’s Department issued Level 2 evacuation level alerts for those living in the Old Cutter’s subdivision and along Quigley Road at 11 p.m. Thursday, letting them know there was significant risk to their area and that they should voluntarily relocate or be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Some residents had already evacuated, moving in with friends and family.
Residents of Deerfield received a Level 1 evacuation level alert, told to be ready to relocate family members and pets, if necessary. Level 3 is the worst alert.
The Senior Connection is a disaster relief shelter and will open if needed, said Executive Director Teresa Beahen Lipman. People can watch for new announcements at https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=blaine%20county%20sheriff