Firefighters continue attack on Rock Fire

Firefighters continued building containment line and suppressing spot fires along the Rock Fire, located just south of Tamarack Resort. Their efforts, aided by water drops from helicopters and scooper planes, helped minimize fire growth which is currently estimated at 2,800 acres.

Handcrews and engines continue focusing on the east and north sides of the fire, where it is closest to the residences along West Mountain Road, Tamarack Resort and numerous powerlines. Spot fires continue to be a concern along Tamarack Resort’s Bliss ski run, with crews aggressively working to keep it in check there. The west side of the fire had dozers and handcrews working alongside multiple aircraft.

This fire has been and continues to be fought with a full suppression strategy.

The increase in handcrews working directly along the fire’s edge led to emphasizing the use of helicopters and smaller air tankers which are better suited for working smaller areas. Planes dropping retardant can be effective at slowing a fire, especially in light vegetation. In thick timber, where much of the Rock Fire is currently, retardant drops’ effectiveness is limited without ground-based firefighters digging containment lines. Large retardant drops can be hundreds or thousands of gallons, enough to break off tree limbs, and are too dangerous for ground crews to be near.

The Boise and Payette National Forests have implemented a closure area for public and firefighter safety. Detailed closure orders can viewed on each forest’s website (https://www.fs.usda.gov/r04/boise/alerts and https://www.fs.usda.gov/r04/payette/alerts), and includes a single map with the adjacent closures shown together for consistency and clarity. 

The only closed campground along Lake Cascade is Upper French Creek Campground, all other Forest Service campgrounds and boat ramps remain open. In addition, all Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation campgrounds remain open.

There are 365 firefighters and support staff on scene, including four Hotshot crews, five 20-person Initial Attack handcrews, two 10-person handcrews, 15 engines, three dozers, five helicopters, three water scooping planes and multiple Single Engine Air Tankers.

The Valley County Sheriff’s Office has issued a ‘READY’ stage evacuation. For more information, follow their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ValleyCountyIDSheriff or call their office at 208-382-5160. 

Great Basin Team 6, a Complex Incident Management Team was in-briefed earlier today and will be taking command of the fire tomorrow, Aug. 16, at 6 a.m. The team will continue to publish morning and evening updates via the Boise National Forest’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BoiseNationalForest and news media contacts.

Updates are also available from our Fire Information Line at 208-384-3266.