After a smoke-filled summer, Boise citizens enjoyed a few weeks of recovery before the wildfire that burned 9,904 acres of land. Idaho Power admitted to accidentally starting the fire due to a low-hanging power line that was sweeping the dry ground.
During a board meeting, Department of Lands Fire Bureau Chief Josh Harvey noted the department will be working with its legal team to determine the best course of action moving forward, and whether or not the fire was caused by negligence.
After working alongside deputies to determine whether the fire was negligence or a willful act, Harvey explained that it is up to the attorneys to dictate what that definition of negligence entails.
“For years we always work directly with your deputies (in the Idaho Attorney General’s Office) to determine whether a fire is billable and it’s clear in code — negligence or a willful act. The term negligence, we always leave that to the attorneys to determine what that legally means. And if we have built a case based on the facts that negligence was present, and therefore making that fire a billable fire, we have exclusively billed for suppression cost alone, as code allows,” Harvey said in response to a question Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador asked.
Robbie Johnson, public information officer for Idaho Department of Lands shared that she is working alongside the “Nevada team” as well.
“It’s interesting because more and more you’re going to see agencies working together on fires,” Johnson said. “This case is just the jurisdiction, the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Idaho Department of Lands. When you have people that can [use] their experience doing the different things — it’s just very helpful.”
Johnson noted that rain showers made the transportation of equipment and vehicles difficult. While heavy showers could result in erosion issues, it is currently not a concern.
“There’s actually still smoke visible. We call them hot spots,” Johnson said. “They’re not considered a risk for expanding the acres of the fire or anything, they’re still addressing those hot spots and the rain is a good thing for that. It doesn’t really moisten everything enough, but it just kind of has the fire not as active.”
While the fire is mostly contained, Johnson wants people to know they should respect restricted areas and avoid outdoor spaces that still pose a safety threat.
“Fish and Game have a closure in their wildlife management area that we see in the foothills, and people are still going in there,” Johnson said. “It’s a safety issue. They’re working hard to identify [and] get as much work done before more rain comes and everything else. That part can be complete and longer term, how we address damage overall on the landscape.”
Jennifer Pierce, a professor in the Department of Geosciences at Boise State explained the difference between a wildfire and a controlled burn.
An unplanned fire is categorized as a wildfire while something like a campfire would be classified as a controlled fire. Pierce explained that the valley fire would be considered a rangeland fire.
“It’s burning through sagebrush steppe and an invasive grass called cheatgrass,” Pierce said. “Broadly speaking, we could have three different fire zones. One is our low elevation, which is what I’m talking about now — sagebrush steppe, invaded by cheatgrass. The dominant driver of that fire is a couple of things. First is that dry fuel, which is provided by that invasive, non-native cheatgrass that just carpets our foothills and that has been a game changer for fires.”
Pierce explained the other major factors that contributed to this fire, such as human fire ignitions and climate change.
“Human-started fires account for over 84% of all fires in the United States,” Pierce said. “The natural ignition would be lightning and Idaho certainly has its fair share of lightning fires, but for this environment, for the valley fire, it’s that non-native cheatgrass, human fire starts, whether by people or electric lines.”
“The third really important driver is climate change. Our summers are warmer and drier, and every year we’re into conditions that are unprecedented in at least the last 900 years to even 900,000 years,” Pierce said. “It is so warm and so dry so late in the season. This is October, it’s really supposed to be cooling off and then you have the dry, hot fuels for those fires. The final wild card is wind. Of course, when you have a wind event that will really be a game changer, we just got very lucky, honestly, with this fire.”
Cheatgrass is an invasive species from Asia that was utilized as a packing material that then flew out of packages and off of the cargo trains. It first appeared in Idaho in 1900 according to scholar George Stewart.
Dr. Ashley Bosa, who works with Brittany Brand HCRI (Hazard and Climate Resilience Institute) shared some safety tips and ways to prepare for a wildfire.
Bosa recommended signing up for Code Red alerts which will inform users about evacuation updates, and utilizing fire prevention websites like Firewise. Getting regular home assessments can also mitigate the risk of wildfires.
“It’s the embers that start something next to the house. Like a juniper bush, or the leaves in your gutter, and then that’s what starts your house on fire because you have all that fuel that’s just sitting around your house,” Bosa said. “So get the free assessment, and you don’t have to make all the changes upfront because some stuff will just take a lot longer [or] might need a little bit more money to try to do the low-hanging fruit.”
Bosa explained that establishing an emergency plan or kit is another way Boise citizens can better prepare themselves and their homes for wildfires. In the past, HCRI has held workshops with a focus on fire prevention and Bosa says she expects the department to hold similar events in the future.
