BLM officials impose Stage 1 fire restrictions

With the threat of wildfire danger increasing throughout southwest Idaho, including parts of Elmore County, local wildland fire management agencies implemented Stage 1 fire restrictions Friday afternoon.

The restrictions are intended to decrease the chance of any preventable fires in the designated areas and will remain in effect until further notice.

Areas identified in the Stage 1 fire restriction order include public lands protected by the Boise District Bureau of Land Management. This includes the south shore of Arrowrock Reservoir and the portation of Elmore County that lies south of the South Fork of the Boise River to Anderson Ranch Dam.

The area extends south along Anderson Dam Road to Highway 20 and east on Highway 20 to the Elmore and Gooding county line south to the interstate.

Under the fire restriction, the following acts are prohibited on public land, roads and trails.

* Building, maintaining, attending or using a fire, campfire or stove fire except within a designated recreation site and only within a fire structure provided by the administrative agency.

* Smoking, except within an enclosed vehicle or building, a developed recreation site or while stopped in an area at least three feet in diameter that is barren or cleared of all flammable materials.

Wildland fire management officials highlighted the following exemptions to the Stage 1 restrictions:

* People with a written permit that specifically authorizes the otherwise prohibited act.

* People using fire fueled solely by liquid petroleum or LPG fuels.

* Individuals conducting activities in designated areas where the activity is specifically authorized by written posted notice.

* Any federal, state or local officer or member of an organized rescue or firefighting force in the performance of their official duties.

* All land within a city boundary is exempted. However, people are required to adhere to burn bans imposed by city and county officials.

Due to the worsening fire danger conditions in Mountain Home and surrounding communities, a county-wide burn ban took affect July 1.

A measure signed by the county commissioners in late June followed similar steps adopted by the Mountain Home Fire Department and Mountain Home Rural Fire Protection District that prohibit all open burning of yard waste and debris, including the use of a burn barrel. The restriction also bans the use of burn barrels, campfires, warming fires and the discharge of tracer rounds from various weapons.

In related news, the Idaho Fire Prevention Order issued by the Bureau of Land Management earlier this year remains in effect until Oct. 20. Anyone who starts an uncontrolled fire on public lands can be fined up to $1,000 and jail time. They can also be billed for the costs of firefighting efforts.

Elmore County entered the fire season following three major range fires in recent years that in total burned more than a half million acres. Among them were the Elk Complex and Pony Complex fires in August 2013, which scorched more than 265,000 acres before they were contained, and the Trinity Ridge fire in 2012 that torched another 300,000 acres.