That smoke you may have seen rising above the foothills of the Pioneer Mountains is a wildfire burning in Muldoon Canyon east of Bellevue.
The Blaine County Sheriff’s department said emergency personnel have responded to the fire and are asking the public to avoid the area so responders can do their work.
Bellevue resident Kristin Fletcher said she had been told the fire broke out in Martin Canyon at a firing range. There are a lot of dead trees in the area.
"It's moving very fast and hot. Winds are squirrely. Temperatures are hot. Who knows what's going to happen!" she added.
Fletcher said a big tanker missed the mark. But four smaller planes followed it, going round and round dropping retardant in a perfect line to keep the fire from going over the ridge into Slaughterhouse Gulch.
"That combined with the wind dying down is helping immeasurably," she said.
The BLM had two dozers, six engines, two hand crews, a water tender and nine planes fighting the fire what has been dubbed the Martin Canyon Fire. They were assisted by fire departments from all of the Wood River Valley's cities.
Authorities closed Muldoon, Slaughterhouse, Martin and portions of the Little Wood. They closed Quigley Canyon temporarily but later reopened it. It was estimated to be 2,800 acres in size and zero-percent contained as of Sunday night.
Crews also responded to a serious crash involving three northbound motorcycles on Highway 75 near Galena Summit just after 3 p.m. They closed the southbound lane of the highway at the Galena Summit Overlook and the northbound lane at Baker Creek.
One motorcyclist died and four others were injured in a multiple-vehicle crash. Idaho State Police said a 26-year-old Boise woman failed to negotiate a curve, crossed the center line and sideswiped a trailer behind a southbound pickup truck.She died at the scene. Another motorcyclist in the northbound group struck her and went down. And a third motorcyclist lost control of his bike..Both of the latter two motorcyclists had passengers.