Valley Fire update: Those Foothills flames are Boise Fire working on containment lines
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Boise Foothills fire
A wildfire in the Boise Foothills on the edge of the city has led to evacuation notices, school closures and power outages as firefighters try to contain the blaze. Check here for all our coverage.
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Update: The Boise Fire Department tweeted Friday night that the active flames people were reporting in the Foothills were the result of backburns being done by crews and were “an intentional effort.”
The department said on X, formerly Twitter, that crews were conducting “proactive fire operations” so they could protect the containment lines that had been set up around the growing Valley Fire. Boise Fire said it appreciated the “concerned calls” but wanted to assure residents they weren’t seeing a change in the fire’s behavior toward the city.
The department said all operations were being “carefully managed.”
Below is the original story:
A 4,000-acre fire burning all day Friday in the Boise Foothills on the southeast edge of the city prompted the Boise Fire Department to issue Code Red evacuation notices.
The first pre-evacuation notice was sent at 9 a.m. to all residents on Highland Valley Road and residents along Warm Springs Avenue from East Sky Bar Street to Idaho 21. It said the neighborhoods should be prepared to evacuate at any moment. Boise Fire said it would send another notification if residents actually needed to leave.
At 11:53 a.m., the fire department issued an update saying the Valley Fire had “jumped the fire line,” and that a Code Red “Set” evacuation notice had been sent to neighborhoods near Council Spring Road, Trapper Place and Foxgrove Drive. Council Spring Road borders the Spring Creek section of Harris Ranch, while Trapper and Foxgrove are in the Harris North neighborhood above there.
(The levels for evacuations are 1-Ready, 2-Set and 3-Go.)
“Pack your emergency items in your vehicle and be ready to evacuate,” the notice said.
The Boise County Sheriff’s Office placed Robie Creek residents at a Level 2 evacuation notice at 12:30 p.m. because of the fire. At 2 p.m., Boise County issued a Level 1 “Ready” evacuation notice to residents of Wilderness Ranch, which is north of where most of the fire activity has been.
The city and Boise Fire Department said in a news release just before 5 p.m. that areas previously in the “Set” evacuation status could return to “Ready.” However, Robie Creek in Boise County remained at Level 2 as of 5:45 p.m.
Boise Fire said residents in the area north of Warm Springs Avenue and between Wild Horse Lane/Table Rock Road and Idaho 21 should still be aware of fire activity in the area. The city plans to issue updates if there are any changes to the evacuation notices.
The Valley Fire was estimated at 25 acres at 4 a.m. shortly after it started, according to the Bureau of Land Management. By about 7:30 a.m., the fire had grown to over 2,000 acres. The fire was about the same size as of noon Friday. But by 1:30 p.m., it had ballooned to 3,500 acres, and by 3:25 p.m. it was 4,000. Helicopters and planes could be seen persistently attacking the blaze.
Boise Fire Chief Mark Niemeyer said in the news release that the fire “challeng(ed) all of our agencies operationally.“
“Based on the expected wind conditions tonight, we will be closely monitoring conditions and strengthening fire lines,” the department said.
BLM spokesperson Chad Cline said some wind early Friday helped fuel the fire.
“It’s definitely moving quickly,” Cline told the Idaho Statesman by phone. “We’ve got a bunch of air resources working it and are doing what we can with what we’ve got.”
The fire started about a mile east of the city — near the intersection of Idaho 21 and East Highland Valley Road — and moved toward a string of subdivisions along Warm Springs Avenue, burning right up to the edge of people’s property. Warm Springs has been closed from Eckert Road to Idaho 21.
The fire charred a large swath of the Boise River Wildlife Management Area, a 36,000-acre protected area that supports the largest wintering mule deer herd in Idaho, according to Idaho Fish and Game. The burn scar also included at least portions of the Homestead Trail, which heads up Lucky Peak. The Cobb and West Highland Valley trails also were in the fire area.
The blaze also destroyed the Intermountain Bird Observatory’s blind on Lucky Peak used for hawk trapping as part of its research, the observatory posted on Facebook. The crew safely evacuated Friday morning, another observatory Facebook post said, along with 20 elementary school students who were camping there Thursday night.
“Some trees near the radio tower appear to be burned but others are still standing,” the observatory posted. “… So much wildlife habitat on the Boise River Wildlife Management Area is gone.”
There’s still no estimated containment or control time for the blaze. Cline said the cause is under investigation, which has been handed over to the Idaho Department of Lands.
About 1,300 customers in the area were without power Friday morning, Idaho Power spokesperson Sven Berg told the Statesman.
Idaho Power de-energized the line at 4:15 a.m. for the safety of firefighters working nearby. Since then, the fire burned through some of its structures, mainly wooden power poles. Berg said most of the power poles in that area are wood.
“We will go in when it’s safe to do so and assess the damage, make any repairs that are needed and restore power,” Berg said by phone.
Idaho Power had restored power to Boise customers by 3 p.m. Its outage map showed a reduction to about 450 customers without power in a swath of land east of the city limits toward Robie Creek and Idaho City.
Bogus Basin asked its guests to leave the mountain recreation area in compliance with an early evacuation request from the U.S. Forest Service, according to a social media post from Bogus Basin at 2:17 p.m. The ski resort said it had to cancel all NICA bike racing events scheduled for Friday and Saturday. It said there was no immediate danger but asked guests to pack their personal belongings and leave the mountain.
“This suggestion was made by the on-the-ground incident commander and fire specialist with the highest levels of safety for the community in mind,” according to the post.
The Boise School District closed two schools for the day because of the fire, it said on social media: East Junior High and Dallas Harris Elementary. East Junior High is on the section of Warm Springs that is closed and Harris Elementary is about a mile outside the closure. Any students who were on a bus when the closure was announced were taken to Les Bois Junior High for pickup by their parents or guardians.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story included the incorrect location for one of the Level 1 evacuation notices. Wilderness Ranch is the correct location.
This story was originally published October 4, 2024 at 7:29 AM.
