Rangeland fire erupts near Glenns Ferry

A fire that began Wednesday evening has burned more than 4,000 acres north of Glenns Ferry by Thursday morning, with BLM crews launching a massive attack on the blaze.

Named the Cold Fire, the cause of the blaze remains under investigation. Some structures just north of the elk ranch near Glenns Ferry were threatened overnight, but crews prevented them from being damaged.

As of 10 a.m. Thursday morning the fire was 70 percent contained, but BLM officials were unable to estimate a time when they expected the fire would be fully contained and controlled.

At present, strong gusting winds and rugged terrain on the southeastern flank of Bennett Mountain are hindering containment efforts. "We can't get any bulldozers in there," said Brandon Hampton, fire information officer for the BLM, "so it's turned into a hand crew and helicopter operation," for that section of the fire.

The BLM has committed 12 engines, three hand crews, four single-engine air tankers, two large air tankers, a water tender and two helicopters to the blaze.

"That's a lot of resources," Hampton admitted, "but fortunately it's been relatively slow locally, so they were available."

Hampton said that due to high fuel conditions in the desert lands where the fire began about 5 p.m. Wednesday, it "burned quite rapidly."

In addition to the Cold fire, federal firefighting crews also were mopping up Thursday morning two small fires, of two and three acres each, that began overnight near Atlanta. The cause of those fires also has not been determined at this point, but there were no reports of lightning strikes in the area overnight.