Elevenmile Fire grows to 8,000 acres

The Elevenmile Fire just west of Challis is now burning up to 8,000 acres.

While the fire continues to grow, containment is still at zero percent. Another incident team has moved in to help fight the fire and will officially take over tomorrow morning.

The U.S. Forest Service has also issued an emergency area closure. This includes several nearby campgrounds and Bayhorse Road.

The crews are continuing to work on this very complex fire, bringing in helicopters and almost three hundred people to fight the fire.

While fires aren’t uncommon in this area, there are several factors that contribute to the difficulties of containing the fire

“This fire has been difficult to contain for a few factors there’s continuous fuel loading, there’s a lot of dead standing lodge pole because of the bug kill epidemic- the terrain is steep and rugged access,” says Stacy Baker, the public information officer for the Elevenmile firefighting crew. “And the weather hasn’t been helping…it’s all just kind of added up to what fire likes best.”

Adding to the complexity of fighting the fire, there might be a storm coming in Friday evening. While it could help with putting out the fire, crews think this fire could go on until the end of season.