BOISE, Idaho — It started with some huge fires in Eastern Oregon. And then, things really got going in Idaho, with around 1,300 fires scorching more than 1 million acres of land in the Gem State so far this year.
Wildland firefighting crews have been, and are still very busy. But municipal firefighters, like those with the Boise Fire Department are busy fighting wildfires too.
You may remember we talked about the wildland urban interface a few weeks ago. That's where residential developments sit up against the wilderness, like in the foothills. There is a lot of that land in the Boise Fire District and a lot of city fire districts. So, it's up to city firefighters to respond to a lot of fires in the wildland urban interface. While different departments and wildland fire agencies all help each other out, Boise Fire Chief Mark Niemeyer said during the summer, fighting wildfires becomes a big part of their job.
Niemeyer said they're trained and ready to do that, but it's a whole different animal.
"You've seen how quickly those fires spread. We just had one in Southeast Boise that we got under control. We felt good about it. Three o'clock in the morning. The wind shifted, it rekindled, and now we're right back out there in a big fire. Fortunately, no homes burned, and we were able to protect everything. But nonetheless, a little scary, right? You're in a very uncontrolled environment when you talk about wildland fire, and we see that in Idaho right now. We have crews out all the time on these various fires throughout Idaho. Knowing the unpredictability of wildfire, the more we can do, the better. So we have been doing a lot of work for several years, Boise Fire, doing mitigation work up in the urban interface. We have a chipper program, a slope mower program. We engage homeowners and homeowners associations on evacuation drills. We just did a drill not too long ago in the Warm Springs Mesa where we practiced that evacuation in real time with real citizens. That's the work we're doing. But I still, as a fire chief, I'm always concerned we have more work to do, because that is such a dangerous and volatile environment," Niemeyer said.
Prevention is a big part of that. Chief Niemeyer said city code helps by limiting what can be built in the foothills and desert around the city. Which is so important because people aren't going to stop wanting to live in the foothills. The building code is there to make sure firefighters can keep them as safe as possible.