Fireworks spark big grass fire 10 miles east of Boise
Fireworks spark big grass fire 10 miles east of Boise
22 July 2008
published by www.idahopress.com
USA — For the past two days, southwest Idaho firefighters have been busy responding to both human-caused and lightning-caused wildfires. On Sunday, Bureau of Land Management firefighters responded to a human-caused wildfire adjacent to the Snake River, just a few miles east of Celebration Park. The Con Shea fire, which ignited late Sunday afternoon, quickly grew to more than 200 acres and was finally contained yesterday morning. The fire was started by a campfire.
Another human-caused fire ignited off of Blacks Creek road, about 10 miles east of Boise early Monday morning. Young adults were playing with fireworks off of Blacks Creek road when they ignited nearby grass and shrubs. Winds quickly fanned the flames, and the young adults called the Boise Interagency Dispatch Center to notify firefighters. Seven fire engines, two helicopters, three hand crews, three dozers, one water tender and several overhead personnel are currently working on the blaze, called Blacks Creek, and have knocked down all of the flames.
Firefighters will continue to work on the fire throughout today, as they want to ensure that expected afternoon high winds do not fan embers and cause the fire to reignite.
A separate blaze, called Red Baron, ignited near the neighborhood of Tipanuk Monday, about 15 miles east of Boise. Firefighters from the Oasis Volunteer Fire Department and the Boise BLM responded to the lightning-caused fire and suppressed all flames but will continue to work on the 125-acre incident throughout today.
Human-caused fires continue to be a serious problem in southwest Idaho, BLM fire investigator Carrie Bilbao said. Every year, on average, over half of all southwest Idaho BLM wildfires are started by people. Please, be careful with anything that could ignite a wildfire.”
