STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY LOREN WOOD, MUFFY RITZ and KAREN BOSSICK

Wood River Valley residents between East Fork Road and the Hiawatha neighborhood were evacuated Saturday as a fast-moving wildland fire ripped through crackling dry sagebrush and tall grasses spreading like tentacles up and down hillsides and into canyons.

Residents of Ohio Gulch, the Heatherlands, Valley Club and Indian Creek were evacuated  as the fire that began in Ohio Gulch ran up north-facing slopes and over, threatening homes in the Valley Club.

A helicopter leaves to retrieve water after dumping a bucket full in a canyon near Valley Club. PHOTO: Karen Bossick

By nightfall the fire had grown to an estimated 1,200 acres.

Residents of the East- Fork-Triumph area near the Triumph Mine were put on Level 2 SET evacuation status with residents warned to be prepared to evacuate at a moment’s notice. Those in the Hiawatha and Red Devil neighborhoods were also told to be prepared to go.

Susan McKee headed from her home in Ketchum into Ohio Gulch to get compost and soil at Wynn’s Compost just after 1 p.m. Saturday. She said she was one of the first to be turned around.

Fire trucks raced past as she drove back to the highway. The smoke was already billowing as she stopped near the highway to take a picture.

This photo, taken just before 9 p.m., showed how large some of the flames were. PHOTO: Karen Bossick

Blaine County Fire and Rescue firefighters were dispatched at 1:41 p.m., and they were joined by numerous other agencies, including Sun Valley fire, Gooding Fire, Twin Falls Fire, Bellevue Fire and Carey Fire.

The Bureau of Land Management is also involved.

Hailey resident Heather Foster got a good video of a plane dumping retardant while driving down the highway as a passenger shortly after 2 p.m.

Some 1,500 people attending the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference in Sun Valley Resort saw two lightning storms come through between 2 and 4 p.m., forcing the evacuation of those watching the conference on the lawn. They were allowed to take shelter in the Pavilion.

Firefighters were greeted by spot fires across the terrain as they drove into Ohio Gulch. PHOTO: Loren Wood

The second thunderstorm brought a 10-minute downpour, the sun finally reappearing to reveal the enormous cloud of smoke to the south.

By 7 p.m. smoke could be seen enveloping the mountain ridge over East Fork. Further to the south, flames could be seen from the highway on the north-facing slopes of Ohio Gulch and in a canyon just east of the Valley Club.

Bicyclists and dog walkers on the bike path watched as helicopters dropped buckets of water they fished from the pond at Valley Club and the Big Wood River near the Starweather neighborhood.

A water drop from one helicopter temporarily doused the flames in the canyon near the Valley Club. But, when the helicopter failed to return after 10 minutes they roared back to life.

Muffy Ritz caught this photo of a helicopter dumping water.

At 7:54 p.m. a convoy of fire trucks drove down Buttercup Road, which had been closed to through traffic. The convoy, which included two vans of Hot Shots, turned onto Indian Creek Road as three dozen spectators watched from the bike path.

Three volunteers with the American Red Cross—Amy Bailey, Barbi Jolley and Elizabeth McAllister—sat in folding chairs outside the Life Church and watched flames explode from time to time in the foothills behind the Valley Club.

“We’ll see black smoke and go, ‘Oooh, no!’ Then we’ll see white smoke and say ‘Oh good. It’s back and forth,” said Bailey.

The three have received training from the Red Cross to take care of emergencies in their home neighborhood and were prepared to take in evacuees displaced by the fire.

“We have cots in the van we can pull out if we need them. We also have water and snacks and food for people. Mostly, right now people have been coming by for updates,” said Bailey.

“I’ve been told our area--Idaho, Montana and Eastern Oregon--have one of the lowest rates of people utilizing a shelter,” said Jolley. “I think it’s because so friends are so quick to take friends in, although one lady told us she got a hotel room.”

“People used the shelter to get meals during the Castle Rock Fire,” Bailey added.

As night fell, a couple watched a single flame on a north-facing slope in Ohio Gulch grow and begin racing uphill, wishing someone was there to put it out before it got bigger. Amazingly there was no putrid smoke smell up and down the fire scene.

Ohio Gulch has had its share of fires over the past 20 years. Most notably, in 2018 spontaneous combustion caused a fire at Winn’s Compost. Several years ago, another fire broke out in the canyon, caused by target shooting at an unofficial site a short distance from the official target range.