McCall Idaho Headline News

This year's forest fire season has shattered previous record years for both the Payette and Boise national forests.

Fires have burned 394,313 acres on the Payette forest as of Tuesday, Payette forest spokesperson Denise Cobb said.

The previous record on the Payette forest was 343,347 burned acres in 2000.
Fires have burned 243,316 on the Boise forest this year, Boise forest spokesperson David Olson said.

The previous record on the Boise forest was 207,000 acres in 1992.

This year's burned area represents 16 percent of the Payette forest's 2.3 million acres and 9 percent of the Boise forest's 2.6 million acres.

The 10-year average for fires on the Boise forest was increased almost 10-foldfromthe 26,000-acre average, Olson said.

There were as many as 1.332 firefighters on the Cascade Complex Fire at its peak. As of this week. 3.56 firefighters were managing the blaze. The fire has claimed 302,177 acres to date, most of that in the Boise forest. It was started by lightning on July 17.

Firefighters from 45 states have spent time fighting the fires in the Cascade Complex at a cost of $51 million by Tuesday.

The fires have not respected arbitrary forest boundaries as large complexes have burned into adjacent forests.

The Cascade Complex has burned 34,223 acres in the Payette forest and 60,698 acres in the Salmon-Challis National Forest. It also burned an additional 272 acres of private land.

The East Zone Complex Fire has claimed 13 structures, including two cabins at Warren and two cabins at Copenhaver Subdivision along the South Fork. The fire has cost $31.6 million to date.

The fire has claimed 300,022 acres so far. There are currently 503 firefighters fighting the fire this week. There have been 13 injuries to firefighters battling the massive fire.

Fires fought on the Payette forest this year include the Zena Loon Fire at 209,000 acres, the Raines Fire at 76,000 acres, Tag Fire at 47,000 acres, Goat Fire at 24,500 acres, Cottonwood Fire at 14,000 acres, Grays Creek Fire at 24,900 acres and the Warm Springs Fire at 23,760 acres.

On the Payette forest alone, about 850,000 gallons of fire retardant were dropped from 766 loads from various aircraft flying 500 hours of flight time.

All of the acreage in the Warm Springs Fire occurred on Bureau of Land Management and private lands. About half of the Grays Creek Fire burned BLM and private lands east of Indian Valley, Cobb said.