UPDATE: Crews mopping up Idaho brush fire that burned 19 acres near Lake Lowell

Crews from the Nampa and Deer Flat Refuge fire departments, as well as from the Bureau of Land Management in Boise, are still battling a brush and grass fire near Nampa’s Lake Lowell.

As of late Thursday morning, the fire had been contained but was not yet controlled, according to BLM fire information officer Jared Jablonski.

“There was a substantial amount of mop-up to do,” Jablonski told the Statesman by phone Thursday morning.

Crews are expecting to control the fire early Thursday afternoon.

The blaze was first reported just before 6 p.m. and was burning near Roosevelt Avenue and Upper Embankment Road, just north of the lake and on the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge, according to the Nampa Police Department.

Jablonski said the fire was estimated to be 19 acres Thursday morning and was “wind-driven in heavy fuels,” a reference to the dry brush and grass adjacent to the lake. He added that the fire is close to the refuge’s visitor center.

Nampa Fire responded with one engine and one brush truck, Deer Flat responded with an engine and a water tender, and the BLM was there with a super heavy engine, a superintendent and one fire investigator, Jablonski said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. No structures had burned or were threatened late Thursday morning.

This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 8:49 PM.