October 2024

The Goat Fire grew by more than 3,000 acres on Friday, expanding about a mile and a half to the northeast during a powerful windstorm that swept through the area.Stage 1 “Ready” evacuation notices were issued Friday for Warm Lake residents with the blaze traveling quickly through grassy terrain in an area that burned in 2007.“Ready” is the first of three evacuation levels, where people near the fire should be aware of the threat and make evacuation plans.As of Tuesday, the Goat Fire, about 10 miles east of Cascade, had burned over 32,000 acres and was 25% contained.Intense pockets of heat within the fire perimeter remained, but the fire’s rapid growth did not continue past Friday’s windstorm.Officials warned that the fire has the potential to flare up again because of unseasonably hot and dry conditions.Several days of rain in September halted much of the fire growth on the West Mountain Complex, including the Goat Fire, but the rain was not enough to fully extinguish any of the large fires.The Snag Fire, to the north of the Goat Fire, stayed relatively calm during Friday’s wind storm.“The Snag Fire saw no significant activity in the past couple days, but crews continue to patrol and monitor the area,” Officials said on Tuesday.The fire was listed as 33,437 acres in size and 90% contained as of Tuesday.Firefighters shifted their focus to the Goat Fire with 217 people assigned.

Pet owners should keep animals away from cyanobacteria blooms in Lake Cascade as thick mats of the toxic chemical-producing bacteria blanket beaches near Cascade.Tests taken by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality in the southern end of Lake Cascade and at Kelly’s Whitewater Park found toxin levels that were below the threshold for a health advisory for the second time this year.Dogs and other animals, however, are more susceptible to the toxins and should stay away from the water.“Anytime there are even a low level of toxins, pet owners should exercise caution,” said DEQ Senior Water Quality Standards Scientist Elizabeth Spelsberg.While the results were below the threshold currently set by DEQ, the toxin levels from recent samples would have triggered an advisory based on a 2017 plan used for previous lake health advisories.The samples from the Blue Heron Campground on Lake Cascade would have “barely exceeded” the threshold for an advisory for one type of toxin, Spelsberg said.DEQ changed the thresholds for issuing health advisories in 2019 when the EPA updated its recreational thresholds to represent more recent data, she said.DEQ does not have guidelines for animal related advisories, but advises caution at any concentration of toxins.“Dog fur acts as a filter that collects and concentrates cyanobacterial cells while in the water and dogs receive a concentrated dose of cells from licking their fur after swimming in a water body with an ongoing bloom,” according to the DEQ Cyanobacteria Response Plan.Dogs are also likely to drink water with cyanobacteria in it.Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, swelling, stumbling, seizures, convulsions, disorientation, rashes or hives.Water on the south end of the lake has the highest concentration of cyanobacteria and scum typical of cyanobacteria blooms, including the telltale smell of rotting material.“The yuck factor is high,” said Lenard Long of the group Friends of Lake Cascade.It’s a problem that has persisted for years, with health advisories issued in every year from 2018 through 2021.“Not taking bloom prevention seriously is now making spring and late summer blooms the norm,” Long said.