Tipanuk Range Fire

Just after midnight on Monday, August 10, 2020 Deputies from the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office, ambulance crews from the Elmore Ambulance Service, and volunteers from the Oasis Fire Department responded to a report of a brush fire near Ditto Creek Road and Desert Duck in Tipanuk, an unincorporated community in Elmore County north west of Mountain Home. The original report was that the fire was small, and no structures were threatened. When deputies arrived, approximately ten minutes after the first report, the fire had grown considerably and was threatening several residences. Deputies went door to door alerting residents and recommending they evacuate.

Once all the residents from the threatened houses had been notified of the fast-moving fire, deputies began fighting the fire with hand tools along a 700-yard section of the fire line. Elmore County Search and Rescue responded to assist with evacuation of people and livestock.

Additional fire units arrived from the Bureau of Land Management. With the additional resources the fire was contained by around 2:30 A.M. Several small structures, vehicles, one unoccupied mobile home, and a recreational vehicle were damaged or destroyed by the fire prior to fire units arriving in the first few minutes of the incident. Deputies were not able to reach those structures due to exploding propane tanks and ammunition.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

No further information will be released at this time.