Boise News

Idaho Fires

Castle Rock Fire Near Ketchum Grows, Forces New Evacuations

By Gary Stivers and Dave Chase, SunValleyOnline.Com, 8-26-07

Photo by Michael Olenick, on SunValleyOnline.Com

Editor's Note: This report is from Gary Stivers and Dave Chase at SunValleyOnline.Com. For more updates, video and photos, check back at SunValleyOnline.Com. Update: Blaine County Schools, with the exception of Carey, will NOT open tomorrow as planned. They will be closed on Monday and Tuesday and possibly open on Wednesday. The morning briefing on the 25,960-acre Castle Rock Fire, burning near Ketchum, Idaho, noted winds will blow again today and the 1200+ firefighters and 11 helicopters now here will work diligently through the day and the dozens of structure firefighters from around the state will do their utmost to catch the flying embers before anyone's house is toasted.

No houses or structures of any kind have been lost as of midmorning Sunday and no serious injuries have occurred.

The fire's southeast corner surged ahead Saturday afternoon when westerly winds picked up and blew the fire through a bulldozed containment line and into Cow Creek, west of Limekiln. A small fire 'spotted' –blew- into the west side of Limekiln Gulch and while it's still smoldering, fire managers' attention is focused on that southeast corner in particular.

Blaine County's East Fork neighborhood was ordered evacuated early Saturday evening because Sunday's high winds are capable of 'spotting' live embers as much as two miles ahead of the firelines and the East Fork neighborhood has only one way in and out.

The Greenhorn and East Fork neighborhoods were two of a total 19 evacuated neighborhoods between Ohio Gulch and the bridge north of the St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center which had its three in-patients relocated to other hospitals Saturday night. The area includes:

Heatherlands; Sundance; Greenhorn Gulch; Gimlet; Hidden Hollow; Starweather; Meadows Mobile Home Park; Clear Creek Canyon; Clear Creek LI; Cold Springs; McHanville; Broadway Run; Timber Gulch; River’s Edge; Audubon Road; Gypsy Trailer Park
and Sun Tree Hollow.


Several of the nine new bulldozers arriving in the predawn hours Sunday morning.

The evacuation orders, while mandatory, don't seem to have resulted in many emptied homes. An Idaho State Police patrolman Sunday morning said he hasn't seen much traffic flowing in or out of midvalley subdivisions and the Blaine County Sheriff's office was unaware of any large numbers of vehicles on the highway Saturday night or Sunday morning. Law enforcement personnel are at the entrance to every large subdivision in the closure area, stopping every vehicle entering the area to ask the address being visited, the reason for the visit and of course notifying the driver of the evacuation order.

Anyone needing a place to evacuate to is invited to Hailey's Community Campus building –the old Wood River High School's gymnasium. Food and shelter has been available there –and unused- since the fire mushroomed into a big deal August 18 and 19.


Pincha-Tulley: This was expected

Castle Rock Fire boss Jeanne Pincha-Tulley Sunday morning told her division leaders there is no emergency at hand and the firefight continues forward only slightly increased –it is already massive- and the advance yesterday into Greenhorn Gulch's Limekiln Gulch was expected.

"It is not a panic situation. It is not an emergency. We knew it could do this, right? We know the wind is coming, we know it's dry, we know the kind of fire behavior it will have."


Type 1 Team leader Jeanne Pincha-Tulley.

Pincha-Tulley and others urged team leaders to constantly update escape routes for their teams and make sure they're working safely as they perform their duties.


More information

Information on the fire and evacuation orders can be found at Blaine County's website, by calling the public safety Incident Command Center at Ketchum City Hall at 726-7811 and on any of the several bulletin boards at Ketchum and Sun Valley city halls and post offices and at Ketchum's Interim City Park across from Atkinson's Market.

Sun Valley Online will continue its coverage as well.



Sunday morning briefing at Incident Command Center for crew chiefs

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