‘Harrowing’ and ‘surreal’: How students on a field trip fled from Boise Foothills fire
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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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Heather Hayes woke up early Friday morning, with notifications and texts rolling in.
Hayes, the community science and outreach coordinator for the Intermountain Bird Observatory, assumed the texts were about an owl species she’d asked staff to tell her about if caught. But instead, they were about the Valley Fire that had started earlier in the morning. And over her line of sight over the hillside, Hayes could see the flames.
“It was a surreal experience,” Hayes said. “I’ve been up there when I’ve seen fires before, but to see this one move so quickly was just something like I’d never witnessed.”
That day, there were 19 fifth-grade students and seven chaperones from Riverstone International School up at the Lucky Peak station for their annual trip. They’d arrived the day before and had slept overnight.
Everyone jumped into action, Hayes said.
Derek Wright, the outdoor education coordinator for Riverstone, was also woken up early. He hiked up to the top of the peak and saw the fire “glowing red” in between him and the lights of Boise
.
“It was pretty intense to see the flames that close,” Wright said. “That’s a little too close for comfort.”
Wright knew he had to stay calm. He and other chaperones told the students there was a fire, got everyone packed up and gave them apples and hot chocolate to keep them calm.
The students set off in five cars down East Highland Valley Road, driving closer and closer to the flames, Wright said.
The Bureau of Land Management helped escort them through the blaze, Wright said. In a video he shared, vehicles with flashing red lights lead a car past giant bright orange flames just off the side of the road. He could feel the heat through the windows.
The group had to detour around closures to get back to the school for parents to pick up the students. Riverstone closed on Friday because of the fire, Wright said.
That day, Wright knew he had to be calm. But now that the adrenaline has worn off, he’s reflecting on what happened.
“Looking back, it was a harrowing experience,” Wright said. “Now I kind of feel a little weird that we were that close to the fire.”
Up on the mountain, as the students were driving down, observatory staff were trying to bring down everything they needed. Hayes brought the lure birds, such as pigeons and doves, down in her car. Other people took computers and data sheets.
It was a bumpy ride down the backside of the mountain, Hayes said, and the pigeons were cooing the whole way down. Everyone went and got breakfast together after, she said.
Staff members hope to return to the observatory this week to assess the damage. It appears that the raptor trapping section burned down, Hayes said, but she is still waiting for official word on the rest of the station.
Hayes spent Saturday morning calling visitors booked through late October to tell them their visits are canceled. Many have donated their registration fees, even though Hayes offered to refund them.
As the fire clears, Hayes and other staff are looking forward to collecting data on how the incident affects bird activity.
“It’s been an emotional morning … the outpouring of support has been amazing. We’re just kind of in a holding pattern,” Hayes said. “There’s so much more involved than just the station. We’re just praying for everybody.”
This story was originally published October 5, 2024 at 4:08 PM.
