Evacuation order lifted as crews make progress fighting wildfire near Boise
Residential evacuations were lifted for Ada County residents early Friday morning as crews made progress fighting a wildfire that sparked and pushed northwest, the Bureau of Land Management Idaho reported.
At 7:45 p.m., residents near South Pleasant Valley Road and West Thompson Road were urged to leave because of a grass fire named the Range Fire. People near South Pleasant Valley Road and Interstate 84 south of Blacks Creek Road were placed on a warning to prepare to evacuate if needed, according to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office. Those evacuations were lifted shortly before 1 a.m., according to an update from the BLM.
Access to Pleasant Valley Road remains restricted to the public, and BLM also announced Friday afternoon that it would close agency-managed public lands in the area. BLM lands from the Pleasant Valley and Kuna Mora roads intersection south to the Orchard Combat Training Center border and east to I-84 are closed to allow firefighters to continue fire suppression.
Officials said the closure is expected to be lifted by Sunday morning.
The Range Fire burned around 8,000 acres as a combination of lightning and gusty wind swept through the Boise area in the early evening Thursday. The cause of the fire has not been determined.
Crews on the fire included four fire engines, two dozers, a water tender and one overhead resource. The BLM update said crews made good progress and focused on “active flames.”
“Radio traffic is positive, and incident commander is confident that firefighting tactics are proving successful,” the update said.
The fire is burning close to the site of another fast-growing wildfire, the Mile-Marker 65 Fire, which scorched thousands of acres south of the Interstate 84 Blacks Creek Road exit on July 19 after a vehicle caught fire on the road.
A public information officer for the BLM told the Idaho Statesman that the Range Fire has not overlapped with the burn scar for the Mile-Marker 65 Fire.
This story was originally published July 31, 2025 at 8:42 PM.
