Bracing for fire

On June 18, 2012, a fast-moving fire swept through a neighborhood on the south side of Mountain Home. In its wake, six homes were destroyed with another 20 buildings sustaining minor to significant damage.

The fire that started off Airbase Road near Equine and Contrail roads was fueled by high winds that pushed the flames toward the southeast before it was finally contained near Smith Road.

The blaze was the start in what became one of Elmore County's worst fire seasons in many years. By mid-July of that year, other range fires had burned more than 127,000 acres in the county, which was nearly twice as much that normally burned each year.

However, that fire was dwarfed by the Trinity Ridge Fire that broke out Aug. 3, 2012 after an all-terrain vehicle caught fire in the mountains northeast of Mountain Home. It prompted mandatory evacuations for many residents in the Pine and Featherville area.

By the time it was contained, the blaze burned 150,000 acres and at one point bore down on Featherville. Hundreds of firefighters fought the blaze, stopping the fire less than half a mile from the mountain community.

The Trinity Ridge Fire was just one in a series of range fires that erupted across Elmore County in recent years. In August 2013, the county once again faced serious fire dangers after lightning triggered two more large-scale range fires.

The Elk Complex Fire burned literally to the doorsteps of Pine and destroyed a majority of cabins in the Lester Creek drainage. The fire burned more than 131,000 acres over a three-week period, destroying more than 70 structures.

At the same time, the Pony Complex fire located a few miles south of the other blaze, burned another 150,000 acres. That fire destroyed most of the grazing range for cattlemen in the area and killed several hundred head of cattle.

The near-total destruction attributed to both fires was just the start. The loss of ground cover in these mountain areas triggered a series of mudslides and rockfalls once rain began falling.

For the past two years, the county has remained fairly unscathed from these large-scale fires. However, the one thing city and county fire officials can count on is that it's not a matter of if Mountain Home and communities across the county will face another major range fire. It's a matter of when this will happen.

To help residents prepare for this year's anticipated fire season, the Mountain Home News, in cooperation with the Mountain Home Fire Department and the University of Idaho Extension Office here, have teamed up to provide information and advice to help county residents protect themselves and their homes from the continued threat of range fires.

Pick up a copy of the May 11, 2016 edition of the Mountain Home News for more information about what you can do to protect yourself from wildfires or For the full story, pick up a copy of the Mountain Home News or click over to click on this link to subscribe to the newspaper's online edition.