Keithly Fire burns 17,600 acres

 Looking to the west from the Midvale Hill rest area on U.S. Highway 95, the view on Sunday was of a blackened landscape with bulldozer lines etched on distant hills and a few splotches of orange fire retardant.

 No structures were lost in the Keithly Fire, which was mapped at 17,600 acres on Monday and 84 percent contained with a few areas on the north flank left to extinguish. Full containment is expected at the end of the week.

 The Great Basin Type 2 Incident Management Team of 40 federal fire managers that took over the fire command on Friday was demobilizing on Monday. They had set up logistics operations in the library and classrooms at Weiser High School to manage the fire.

 With more than 60 large fires burning across the U.S. and the peak of the fire season here in the West, the team prepared to move on to manage the Mesa Fire near Council.

 Since it started last Wednesday at 11:40 a.m. about four miles northwest of Midvale, the Keithly Fire made fast and furious wind-driven runs through brush and tall grass, forcing evacuations and road closures on Thursday and Friday.

 The lightning-caused fire burned across BLM land and private property. At the peak of the fire activity, there were 220 firefighters working the fire.

 Numerous fire departments around the region sent engines, water tenders, brush trucks and personnel for structure protection and to fight the fire. In addition to engines and firefighters from the Midvale Fire District and Weiser Area Rural Fire District, Nampa, Vale, Melba, Ontario and elsewhere provided mutual aid.

 U.S. Forest Service fire crews based in Weiser also were on the fire line early. They have fire supression responsbility for BLM land west of U.S. Highway 95.

 The weather didn’t give fire crews much help during the week with temperatures reaching 100 degrees, just about zero humidity and a breeze every afternoon. By Thursday night, the fire had grown to 8,000 acres.

 The fire twice jumped U.S. Highway 95 between Midvale Hill and the Thousand Springs area. Fire crews on Thursday night burned off two miles of vegetation fuels along the highway south of the rest area on Midvale Hill to protect the U.S. 95 corridor.

 The fire and firefighting efforts forced intermittent closures of Highway 95 to all traffic from the north and south on Thursday and

 As the fire continued its run to the south, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office ordered mandatory evacuations of the Mann Creek corridor west of Highway 95 from Mann Creek Reservoir up to Forest Service land on Thursday, an area that includes Fourth of July Creek and Mann’s Creek.

 Mark and Mindy Sands, who live on Deer Creek Road with a couple of other rural homeowners, were notified Thursday morning that the fire was possibly headed their direction.

 When Mark got home, a fire truck from the Ontario Fire Department was parked at their house. They were released and his understanding was the fire was barely moving.

 The fire activity increased overnight, fanned by winds that picked up. A mandatory evacuation was ordered by the sheriff for the Sands and their neighbors early Friday morning.  

 The fire arrived mid-morning. Firefighters lit burnouts on three sides of his property to slow the march of the fire and deprive the flames of fuel. Their home was not touched by the flames and firefighters gave the Sands credit for creating defensible space.

 “We lost a few fenceposts and some trees and shrubs that were planted for habitat near the property boundaries, but otherwise we were unscathed,” Sands said.

 A major effort by the many fire departments and agencies and personnel on the ground turned the corner Friday on the fire. Much of the effort was concentrated on the southern flank of the fire, which at one point threatened structures in the Deer Creek area.

 Fire officials were able to make headway with both personnel on the ground and the use of aircraft dropping retardant.

 Firefighters spent Friday night extinguishing hot spots near the Midvale Hill rest area and Deer Creek and patrolling the fire along Highway 95, Mann’s Creek and Deer Creek roads.

 In the morning fire update on Saturday, the fire’s footprint had grown to 15,434 acres based on flyovers using infrared equipment. The photos were then used by GIS specialists to map out the size of the fire.

 A federal incident management team met with the public on Saturday evening at Weiser High School, where they had set up operations, to provide an update on the fire and answer questions.

 Evans Kuo, with the Great Basin Management Team 5, said fire crews had a “really good day” on Friday in stopping the fire. His estimate on Saturday was the fire was 40 percent contained. Forecasted winds and hot temperatures could still test the control lines, he said.

 He credited the Midvale Fire Department, Weiser Area Rural Fire Department and Washington County Sheriff’s Office for their hard work on the fire, which made a big difference.

 With the fire under control, on Saturday night at 8 p.m. the sheriff’s office lifted the mandatory evacuations in Mann Creek and Deer Creek. The Mann Creek Reservoir also opened to the public.

 As fire crews shoot for 100 percent containment, there are resource advisers assessing and repairing dozer and handline lines to minimize scarring and erosion.  

 There is extensive repair work needed in the Keithly Creek area that will require heavy equipment, according to the Forest Service.  

 The remaining federal fire resources assigned to the Keithly fire will focus on repairing containment lines, repairing fences and making sure dust devils do not pick up any embers and reignite the fire.

 A Payette National Forest closure order remains in effect. The following roads entering the area are closed at the National Forest Boundary: White Pine Creek, Keithly Creek, Mann’s Creek, and Jenkins Creek on the east and south boundaries; Dennett Creek on the west boundary; Middle Fork and Brownlee on the north boundary.