STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Get used to the smoke rising out of the Ohio Gulch area. It could take two weeks before firefighters extinguish it.
Fire crews continued to work Friday afternoon to extinguish huge piles of mulch that caught on fire Wednesday—a day in which the temperature climbed to 85 degrees.
Two excavators and one dozer broke up piles of mulch while engine crews ferried up water to the site from the northwest corner of the Valley Club. There a firefighter pumped water out of the creek into three portable orange holding tanks.
Firefighters on the scene cooled the debris with water and foam as the others broke up the piles.
The average truck can hold about 800 gallons, said Kelsey Brizendine, fire information and prevention officer for the Twin Falls District BLM. That’s the equivalent of eight large bathtubs.
Brizendine said putting the fire out has been slow, as there is a lot of compost spread over four acres.
“It can hold a lot of heat,” she said.
Residents of Indian Creek suffered through Wednesday night as acrid smoke suffocated their valley, forcing them to close their windows. The smoke cleared out during the day and wasn’t as bad Thursday night, said Susan Fierman.
Hikers on the Fox Creek Loop north of Ketchum got an occasional whiff of it on Thursday.
Four engines, two water tenders, two excavators and one dozer are currently working the fire, which is located at the Winn Compost Facility near the Ohio Gulch landfill.
Investigators have not determined what caused the fire yet. The fire is just smoldering and there are no structures threatened.
The fire, reported at 3:26 p.m., was the first of three that local firefighters were called to on Wednesday afternoon.
An hour later a fire was reported in a small stand of cottonwood trees north of Colorado Gulch Road. It was knocked down within an hour. Firefighters said they believed it was human caused.
A third fire was reported at the Sun Valley Horsemen’s Center later in the evening when rotting wet hay is believed to have combusted spontaneously. Firefighters were able to control it within 90 minutes.
Elsewhere in southern Idaho firefighters fought a fire just southeast of Flying J earlier this week. They are still fighting one along the Middle Fork Road near Arrowrock Reservoir leading to Atlanta east of Boise. There are no road or area closures in place there.