Wapiti Fire has crews preparing miles of fireline

UPDATE 9/3/24: The Blaine County Sheriff's Department is issuing a "Go" evacuation notice for all properties west of Hailey, from Rock Creek Road west up to Red Elephant Gulch Road, and Rancho Cielo Road.

The Wapiti Fire has now burned almost 108,000 acres and is still 0% contained.

STANLEY, Idaho (KIFI) – The Wapiti Fire as of August 31 is 0% contained and nearly 95,000 acres have burned. 

State Highway 21 is closed east of Lowman to Stanley (MP84 to MP130) due to wildfire activity. The closure is necessary for public safety and to provide safe conditions for firefighters working along the highway. Highway 75 remains open.

However, containment is a percentage of the fire surrounded by the control line.

Currently, fire crews have completed 8.2 miles of hand-dug fireline, 12.7 miles of dozer lines, 2 miles of mixed construction line, and prepped 11.1 miles of existing roads to use as firelines.

The Wapiti Fire Information 2024 Facebook page explains why the Wapiti Fire is still at 0% containment: “The Wapiti Fire is a full suppression fire, that the responsible agencies and Incident Management Team fully intend to put out. On a fire of this size and complexity, that’s no small chore. Rushing headlong to the front of the fire with firefighters, heavy equipment, and aircraft would be a recipe for certain disaster and quite possibly firefighter injury or death. We have to be smart about how we do it. We have to be strategic, and we have to be prepared with the right priorities. Firefighter and public safety is always our number one priority.”

Beyond fireline preparation, here is a list of what crews are/have done to fight the fire:

· Over 1,300 firefighters are working on the fire, including crews, engine and heavy equipment operators, aircraft pilots and support personnel, medical staff, logistics, safety officers, information and liaison officers, finance and planning staff, and many other support and supervisory personnel including the Incident Commanders.

· Crews have completed 8.2 miles of hand-dug fireline, 12.7 miles of dozer lines, 2 miles of mixed construction line, and prepped 11.1 miles of existing roads to use as firelines.

· Crews have dropped 111,914 gallons of retardant and 620,447 gallons of water.

· Crews deployed over 5 miles of fire hose, 40 pumps, and 360 sprinklers to protect homes and other structures.

• Zone 1 is in the go stage.
• Zones 2 and 3 are in the set stage.
• Zones 4 and 5 are in the ready stage.