BOISE, Idaho — With the 20 active fires burning in the Great Basin, soldiers are now coming to Idaho to fight fires. Over 200 soldiers came to the West Mountain Complex Fire, said Kim Christensen, deputy assistant of Operations for the Forest Service.
The soldiers are from the Joint-Base Lewis McCord Army base in Tacoma, Wash. They could be here for up to 30 days.
“When we get to a point where we're starting to see some drawdown in that capability, that's when we make the decision to go ahead and activate surge capability. And we can do that with active duty military and with our international partners,” Christensen said.
The soldiers will assist firefighters with maintaining control of fire lines and installing hose lays on fires, Christensen said. The military is a valuable resource that is only called in when needed—and Christensen said they are extremely grateful for their support.
“When we when we get into higher preparedness levels, such as we are in this year, we oftentimes have to augment our capability,” Christensen said.
The Idaho Military Division said the Idaho National Guard has not yet been deployed.
“Once available resources have been exhausted, local jurisdictions and state agencies can request IOEM to seek a state disaster declaration, which enables the allocation of additional resources, such as the Idaho National Guard,” Idaho Military Division wrote in a statement to KTVB.
Officials said the incident commanders consistently monitor fire conditions and then report those conditions to the Idaho Military Division, local jurisdictions, the Idaho Department of Lands, and other state and federal agencies to assess resource needs.
“Fires within the Payette and Boise National Forest are on federal lands, and the responsibility for suppressing those fires lies with the federal agencies,” Idaho Military Division stated.