Long Butte fire in southern Idaho burns 215,000 acres in one day

Fire moved up to 30 miles an hour at times

Southern Idaho experienced quite a wind storm Saturday night with lightning and little rain. Boise was hit hard with power outages caused by downed trees all over town due to 70 mile per hour gusts of wind. The Long Butte fire started that night and moved quickly to the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument where it burned 3/4 of the monument.

UPDATE: Fire’s progress into Gooding County halted; fire now covers 215,000 acres.

It looks like a very bad water year in Idaho.

Could it also turn out to be another bad fire year? A really bad fire year?

Burned signs on the South Fork Salmon River 2007 © Ken Cole

With precipitation and snowpack somewhere around 75% of normal, it looks bad for fish and fires this year.

Rocky Barker asks whether it could be as bad as the 1910 fires.

Is Idaho ready for a repeat of the massive fires of 1910?
BY ROCKY BARKER – Idaho Statesman

See where the state stands water wise this year: Idaho SNOTEL Snow/Precipitation Update Report