BY MAX SILVERSON
The Star-News
Lightning started several wildfires on West Mountain Tuesday night that grew to over 1000 acres as of Wednesday afternoon, creating a towering smoke plume over Tamarack Resort and homes along West Mountain Road.
The Valley County Sheriff’s Office issued a “ready” evacuation order on Wednesday for all residents along the west side of Lake Cascade from West Roseberry Road to Bear Trail.
“The ready order is being released today so residents can have adequate time to pre-plan,” the Valley County Sheriff’s Office said, noting a hot, dry and windy forecast that is likely to see the fires spread.
“Ready” is the first of three evacuation orders, followed by “set,” and “go,” when residents are advised to leave immediately. Everyone under the ready order was advised to begin planning their evacuation.
For up-to-date evacuation orders, visit the new Valley County evacuation zone map www.co.valley.id.us/departments/Wildfire/wildfireevacuation.
Residents would be notified of upgraded evacuations through the county’s CodeRed emergency notification system. Visit the website above for more information.
The Rock Fire, Duck Fire and Lone Tree Fire were all ignited by a lightning storm around 10 p.m. on Tuesday to the southwest of Tamarack Resort. Each fire had grown to about 20-acres as of Wednesday morning, according to the nonprofit wildfire tracking app Watch Duty.
By Wednesday afternoon, the fires merged and were about 1,000-acres in size.
The US Forest Service and Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association and local municipal fire departments are fighting several lightning caused fires centered about 1.5 miles south of Tamarack Resort, said Boise National Forest Public Affairs Officer Mike Williamson.
Firefighters responded immediately after the fires were reported and they are being fought
with a full suppression strategy, Williamson said.
Two ten-person hand crews, a hotshot crew, a fire engine and a bulldozer were on the scene as of Wednesday afternoon and two more hotshot crews were expected soon, he said.
Multiple aircraft were assigned to the fire with more on the way, including four water scoopers, six single engine air tankers, four helicopters, four large air tankers and one very large air tanker—capable of carrying 8,000-gallons of fire retardant, Williamson said.
The fires were within a half mile of ski runs on the southern boundary of Tamarack Resort on Wednesday morning. Their footprint grew significantly throughout the day and an exact size could not be confirmed by the time of this publication.
The fires at Tamarack were not the only lightning-caused fires in the area.
The one-acre Oro Fire was also reported about 10 miles east of Cascade in the 2024 Snag Fire area and another wildfire was reported near Eagle Nest Peak, about 7.5 miles northeast of Cascade. The status of those fires was not available.
On Wednesday morning, Tamarack Resort suspended on-mountain activities like mountain biking and hiking and the mid-mountain lodge was closed for the day, the resort announced on social media.
Tamarack evacuated some on-site employees on Tuesday night to Hotel Nobo in Cascade as a precaution, said Tamarack Resort President Scott Turlington.
Turlington said on Wednesday that the resort’s snow making system, which can spray water similar to sprinklers, was operating “just to be safe.”
The fires are north and east of the 900-acre fire scar from the 2024 Wolf Creek Fire.
Tamarack evacuated some on-site employees on Tuesday night to Hotel Nobo in Cascade as a precaution, said Tamarack Resort President Scott Turlington.
“Structures seem to be ok for now, thankfully the wind has been calm,” Turlington said on Wednesday. “We do have our snow making system operating just to be safe.”
The fires are north and east of the 900-acre fire scar from the 2024 Wolf Creek Fire.
