BY KAREN BOSSICK
Was Stanley Lake on your bucket list for the upcoming weekend?
Think again.
Kirk Flannigan, district ranger for the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, is ordering the Stanley Lake Recreation Complex closed after the Wapiti Fire that started near Grandjean jumped the ridge of the Sawtooth Mountains and began establishing itself in the Elk Creek and Stanley Lake Creek drainages.
All areas west of Stanley city limits are closed and Highway 21 is closed from milepost 92 at the Warm Springs air strip to milepost 107 at the Custer/Boise County line.
The Wapiti Fire was started by lightning two miles southeast of Grandjean on July 24. The Boise National Forest managed the fire until handing it over to Northern Rockies Complex Incident Management Team 5 on Aug. 10. That team is also managing the nearby Bulltrout and Middle Fork complex fires.
The fire grew more than 8,000 acres to 14,000 acres on Tuesday, thanks to long-range spotting caused by windy conditions and group torching. It is 10 percent contained.
It has burned several structures and cabins near the Wapiti Summer Home area and three structures at the Sawtooth Lodge. The lodge and its historic cabins were still standing at last word. It also has burned down to the Payette River in at least one place and next to Highway 21.
Two hand crews, heavy equipment and engines are positioning in the Stanley Lake area to defend the lake, as well as the Stanley Creek, Ironwood and Goat residences. Currently, 228 personnel are working on the fire, including 24 engines and three water tenders.
There are several large fires in western Idaho—more than 200 soldiers from the Joint-Base Lewis McCord Army base in Tacoma, Wash., have been called up to help with the West Mountain Complex Fire near Cascade.
Flannigan closed the nearby Redfish Lake Recreation Complex earlier this summer after a human started a fire in the Bench Lake area. The fire grew to 2,595 acres, burning down to Redfish Lake before firefighters determined it was safe to reopen most of the area.