A wildfire stoked by strong winds and fed by dry timber and underbrush made a push to the north Saturday, forcing more evacuations of high-priced homes just outside of the posh, central Idaho ski town of Ketchum.
Despite the adverse conditions and extreme fire behavior, some progress was made on the Beaver Creek Fire’s south end, where fire crews conducted mop-up along the borders of blackened foothills west of the Hailey.
So far, more than 2,300 residences have been evacuated since lightning ignited the fire Aug. 7. The fire grew to 144-square-miles Friday night, but fire managers say they won’t have an accurate assessment of its size until Saturday night when a plane with infrared cameras will fly over the burn. Only one home and several outbuildings have burned, and fire officials estimate that crews on the ground have save more than 2,000 structures.
More than 700 firefighters have been deployed to the mountains west of this affluent region, where celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenneger, Tom Hanks and Bruce Willis own pricey getaways. Five more hotshot crews arrived Saturday and more are expected to arrive this weekend to continue focusing on protecting homes in a sparsely populated county that boasts more than $8 billion in taxable property.
“It was a good day from the standpoint that we had no injuries, not lives lost and no homes and property burned,” said fire spokeswoman Lucie Bond. “Firefighters have been going house-to-house to decrease the risk. We’re simply not going to leave homes unprotected.”
Elsewhere, in northern Utah, about 10 homes were destroyed when a wildfire raced through the community of Willow Springs late Friday. As of midday Saturday, the Patch Springs Fire had burned more than 50 square miles and was 20 percent contained.
The Beaver Creek Fire is currently the nation’s top priority, in part because it’s burning so close to homes and subdivisions. Early Saturday, the firefight was hampered by thick smoke that engulfed Hailey, a town with 7,900 inhabitants 14 miles south of Ketchum, home of the Sun Valley Ski Resort.
Smoke stretching across the tight Big Wood River Valley also grounded the air attack on the blaze, putting more pressure on fire crews building fire lines and spotting on the ground. But by midday, the smoke cleared enough to scramble helicopters that targeted fires burning in the mountains and foothills that shoulder Hailey and north to Ketchum. Fire managers also turned to a huge DC-10 tanker to resume retardant drops all across a fire that is burning hotter and faster than the Castle Rock Fire that threatened these towns in 2007.
“This fire is consuming everything,” fire spokeswoman Madonna Lengerich said. “The fire is so hot, it’s just cremating even the biggest trees.”
Ketchum, with a population of 2,700, and Sun Valley, with 1,400 people, were under “pre-evacuation orders,” with authorities telling residents to be ready to leave if necessary. Many in those towns heeded the advice as the exodus heading south on U.S. Highway 75 continued to slow traffic through the valley.
Ketchum’s tony retail and dining districts, normally buzzing this time of year with tourists and summer residents, resembles a ghost town. Dozens of retail shops, bars, outdoor cafes and restaurants on the town’s main street closed their doors Saturday. Even The Casino, the city’s oldest bar, closed its doors to the surprise of residents.
Fire officials are hoping the weather cooperates on today, when temperatures are expected to cool.
In Utah, fire managers eyed the weather Saturday as crews continued battling several blazes, including the Patch Springs Fire in Tooele County.
About the Author
