STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Those fighting the Glendale Fire felt pretty good about it Tuesday morning after a quarter inch of rain fell on the fire Monday night, tamping it down.

“It’s looking really good thanks to the moisture we got,” said BLM Fire Information Officer Ryan Berlin. “We hope to contain it on Wednesday and control it by Thursday.”

Unfortunately, the lull in fire activity was a mirage. It picked up again about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon near Rock Creek Road, and firefighters found themselves again patrolling an active fire. Crews began a back burn to the southwest of Rancho Cielo Tuesday night, which sent a thick haze of smoke into the valley from the Heatherlands down.

The hills were blackened just beyond the Unega dog rescue ranch.

The 50 firefighters on the scene have additional resources now, however, thanks to a Type III team being brought into the area and a fire camp set up in a pasture along West Glendale Road.

In response to the fire, the Blaine County Sheriff kept a mandatory evacuation in place for those living west of Rock Creek Road, including those in the Rancho Cielo neighborhood. A Level 2-Be Set pre-evacuation notification remained in effect for all Croy Creek and Rock Creek properties east of Rock Creek Road.

The road remains open until the Rock Creek area where police are blocking access.

The Glendale Fire went on a Labor Day rampage through 7,300 acres of highly flammable sagebrush and 2-foot-tall grasses starting with a lightning strike near Glendale Road in Bellevue and ending up in Rock Creek Canyon.

A helicopter picked up water from the Rock Creek Pond on Tuesday.

Residents of Rancho Cielo were evacuated as the fire menaced six homes there. But a couple of DC-10s dumped retardant on hillsides providing a buffer between the fire and the homes. And helicopters carrying 800- and 2,000-gallon buckets of water helped keep the fire at bay until the wind shifted the fire away.

Mother Nature pitched in, dumping at least a quarter inch of rain on the fire late Monday night.

“It rained off and on for a good hour, and it was often heavy,” said Blaine Jewett.

Jewett, who lives in Twin Falls, answered the call to help build a mile ‘s worth of dozer lines 10 to 12 feet to provide a buffer zone between the fire and six homes being threatened by flames several feet high.

Helicopters typically carry either 800 gallons of water or 2,000.

“While we were working, others were doing structure protection, and the 3,000-gallon water tenders were taking water where needed so it was a busy time around here,” he said.

Morning dawned to show acre upon acre of blackened earth, charred sagebrush burnt nearly to the ground and lines of red retardant across hillsides. But all six homes had miraculously been saved in what is being described as a planking fire with fire mainly flanking on ridge tops, rather than making runs. Flanking fires neither go against the wind or with but run parallel to the wind direction. They usually burn at intermediate rather than hot temperatures.

And, though a hint of fire was in the air, it was clear enough that a camera crew for Boise’s Channel 7 remarked it was some of the cleanest air they had smelled all summer.

The fire started just after 1:30 p.m. in an area near West Glendale Road and quickly raced uphill spilling over into ridgelines above the Unega Mountain Dog Rescue at the end of Glendale Road. It was propelled by 25-mile-per-hour winds that pushed it over the ridgetop into the Rock Creek Canyon.

Blaine Jewett used this dozer to create fire lines around homes Monday night.

Firefighters with Wood River Fire & Rescue, North Blaine County Fire District, Hailey Fire, Bellevue fire and Carey Fire raced to the scene.

On Tuesday about 50 firefighters remained on the scene building fire lines of 50 to 60 inches to make sure no embers in the interior get out. Helicopters dumped water on hot spots as dust devils picked up charcoal-colored dirt and sent it swirling across the landscape.

“It’s kind of like a game of whack-a-mole. If someone sees smoke pop up, they try to take care of it,” said Berlin. “Even when we don’t see flames, the roots of sagebrush hold a lot of heat. That’s why we’re creating this perimeter,” said Berlin.

Meanwhile, parts of the Wapiti Fire near Stanley got rain Monday night. The fire was at 108,017 acres on Tuesday and 2 percent contained.

DID YOU KNOW?

Mountain Humane, which is in the Be Set Zone, managed to house 64 onsite dogs at the Sun Valley Animal Center. Staffers put another 34 in foster care as a precaution.