BY KAREN BOSSICK
The population of Stanley, Idaho, has swelled from 119 to 465 in the past few days as firefighters stream in from across the country to fight a wildfire burning near one of Idaho’s most iconic places.
That said, between 3,000 and 4,000 overnighters and day users had to be turned away from Redfish Lodge and surrounding campgrounds and trails when the Bench Lake Fire broke out a mile away from Redfish Lake on July 11.
“I want to acknowledge the economic impact is significant. Redfish is probably the No. 1 spot from July to September in the whole forest," SNRA Area Ranger Kirk Flannigan told townspeople this week. “I’m not blind to that."
Flannigan added that he is considering a phased approach once it's safe" "We’re trying to get the lodge back open…we’re going to work hard to get things open.”
More than 200 people packed into the Stanley Community Hall Wednesday night to learn what is being done to fight the fire, which has severely impacted the small mountain town’s economy. It was, fire officials said, the best attended fire meeting they’d ever seen in such a small community.
“Our goal is to put the fire out,” one fire official assured townspeople.
By Thursday morning—a week after the fire was reported amidst the Bench Lakes—the fire had grown to 2,037 acres and was within a half-mile of the historic Redfish Lodge, which is five years away from celebrating its 100th birthday.
It was only 8 percent contained--up 5 percent from the day before, and firefighters are now tasked with prepping the Stanley Ranger Station headquarters, housing and other infrastructure. But fire officials expressed a cautious optimism that they were making good progress.
As of Thursday morning, two scoopers and two helicopters had picked up more than 900,000 gallons of water from Redfish Lake to dump on the edges of the fire. Thick smoke has given them pause at times, but they’ve managed to fly more than a hundred hours.
Nine hundred gallons—what would fill a large swimming pool—doesn’t sound like a lot, but is actually quite effective, a fire official told those attending the town meeting.
Retardant was not used on the Ross Fork Fire, which destroyed a couple buildings in nearby Smiley Creek two summers ago, because of the harm it might cause fish in nearby creeks and lakes. Retardant could be used, if absolutely necessary, a fire official told townspeople. But the ability of aircraft to make five-minute turnarounds thanks to the proximity of a big lake like Redfish is a huge asset.
“It’s not that we’re unable to use the retardant—it’s not the best tool in some places,” she said.
Crews used backburns on Wednesday to guide the fire into the Fishhook drainage where wet, marshy terrain could lower the intensity of the main fire. And they spent Thursday building line along Fishhook Trail to the west to provide a buffer zone to keep the fire from advancing onto Redfish Lodge, where sprinklers were running nonstop.
"We're trying to build a buffer around the fire with fire," said Monica Morrison, operations section chief. "We have been able to bring the fire pretty close to the lodge and the lake's edge and then to a hand line that we built so that if the fire comes that way there's nothing for it to burn. That's a big win for this fire."
Crews also made good progress digging hand line down to the mineral soil and stripping vegetation among rocky terrain on the south end of the fire where the fire is backing into the upper benches. The natural containment along the lake’s edge, where the fire has been creeping and smoldering with only single tree torching, will allow them to increase the containment to the south and west. That work should stop any fire that comes south, Morrison said.
Most of what's burned has been dead or downed trees. A lot of the healthy lodgepole pine in the area seem to be surviving. The fire has burned in a mosaic pattern in a lot of places, leaving healthy standing trees to provide shade as new growth starts underneath.
An air resources advisor joined the incident on Thursday due to smoke concerns. Dark gray smoke has been visible for the past few days, and smoke has blanketed the Stanley Basin at times. Fire officials told townspeople to expect it for awhile as the fire moves through trees impacted by beetle kill.
Currently two helicopters, two scooper planes, 13 engines and 346 firefighters have been assigned to the fire.
“We’ve been very fortunate to get a lot of resources sent to us on the fire,” Morrison said, noting that there are many very large fires burning throughout the west in California, Oregon, Utah, Montana, North Idaho and New Mexico. "A lot of us are from pretty close to this area. We recreate here so it's rewarding to be able to do do work in an area that's so special."
In fact, the nation just shifted to planning level 5, which indicates that national wildland firefighting resources are heavily committed. As a result, Idahoan should expect fewer infrared flights that provide more accurate fire perimeter mapping.
"The only way to put these fires out is with boots on the ground. If we can use water in conjunction with the boots on the ground, we can slow the spread until we get people into these areas."
The Bench Lake fire is getting a lot of media attention, she added, and that’s a good thing as it helps get the word out.
SNRA Ranger Kirk Flannigan told townspeople that he made the decision to evacuate the Redfish Lake area the day after the fire started because he didn’t want to have to deal with an influx of weekend campers escaping triple-digit heat in places like Boise. As it was, more than 3,000 people were evacuated from the area.
“We did not want to get into Saturday or Sunday and have a chaotic situation,” he said.
Flannigan said that firefighters had hoped to knock the fire down in the initial attack after the fire was reported at 12:30 p.m. July 11. But those hopes were doused after the initial attack helicopter crashed while making water drops. The pilot was able to call 911 and hike out to an awaiting ambulance, and the accident is under investigation.
And the fire, estimated to be less than an acre at first report exploded to an estimated 40 acres as the day progressed.
“We wanted the fire to be as small as possible. But, with the helicopter going down and the terrain, we weren’t able to contain it as quickly as we would have liked,” he added.
Asked whether the Forest Service could have done more to reduce fuel load in an area that’s seen so much beetle kill, Flannigan replied that crews have been working around the Iron Creek area, which serves as the trailhead for the popular Alpine and Sawtooth lakes. They also did work earlier around Smiley Creek and Pettit and Alturas lakes, he said.
“We focus on priorities--we can’t get to everything,” he added.
Highway 75 and Highway 21 remain open. Campgrounds and trailheads in popular areas like Stanley, Pettit and Alturas lakes remain open. But SNRA officials issued an expanded emergency closure for the Bench Lake Fire on Thursday, and campers, backpackers and day hiker are urged to remain vigilant in case erratic weather prompts the fire to go on a tear.
Those who have homes or cabins in the area should have an evacuation plan detailing where they will go and how they’re going to get out, one fire official said. That includes having photos and other go-items ready to grab at a moment’s notice.
The National Weather Service calls for near record hot dry temperatures today with a high near 90 and increasing clouds. There will be areas of smoke with calm winds becoming northwest at 6 miles per hour in the afternoon, but some forecasts call for gusts as high as 40 miles per hour. Temperatures are forecast to be in the lower 90s through Monday.
HELP FOR REDFISH LODGE
A GoFundMe has been set up to support Redfish Lake Lodge staff and family. The lodge’s owners Audra and Jeff Clegg have continued to pay their 105 employees, but they don’t know how much longer the lodge and adjacent businesses will be shut down. And they are looking at having to refund guests, who had booked the lodge for weddings and family vacations.
Audra Clegg said Thursday night that the family was grateful for the show of support and that they hoped to get the lodge open as soon as possible. "It's very smoky there right now," she added.
To contribute, go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-redfish-lake-lodge-staff-and-family. The fund had raised $44,000 by Thursday evening.
HELP ON THE HORIZON
The Bureau of Land Management announced this week that it will break ground on Sunday, July 21, on a Mountain Home Single Engine Air Tanker Base for firefighting at Mountain Home Municipal Airport. The base will feature a fire-retardant loading pad, evaporation pond, operations building and storage facility.
The facility, expected to be completed by May 2025, will significantly enhance local and regional wildland fire aviation support capacity, said BLM Boise District Fire Management Officer Chris Cromwell.
“This area experiences one of the highest number of new fires in the country, making this facility crucial for our firefighting efforts,” he added.
A new Fuels Data app will help BLM and Forest Service employees calculate the fire risk based on plant moisture and how much fuel a fire might burn.
Currently, measuring fire fuels is very labor-intensive requiring people to go into the field, carrying heavy equipment and then return to the office where they have to do lengthy calculations. The app will allow anyone to take a photograph of an area with their cell phone and let artificial intelligence calculate the fuel loading in seconds based on the photo.