STANLEY, Idaho — This wildfire season is destroying land and peak season.
"The summer 2024 has been one that we will try to forget," said Austin Clegg, Redfish Lake Lodge operations director.
Clegg said the popular Stanley lodge was down 30% in revenue at the end of the Bench Lake Fire, which forced them to close for nearly 20 days in mid-July. They barely started recovering when the Wapiti Fire broke out a few weeks later.
The fire, which has more burned more than 68,000 acres in the Boise, Salmon-Challis and Sawtooth National Forests, exploded over the weekend. It started southwest of Grandjean on July 24th.
It is not contained at all. Right now, about 450 people are on the fire with more resources are on the way.
Fire official Michael Defries said the flames are hard to fight because of the rough terrain.
"A lot of the fire is truthfully, very hard to reach or almost impossible to reach because it includes wilderness and many other remote areas," he said.
Stanley Mayor Steve Botti said everyone worries the fire will continue to creep closer.
"This fire has directly threatened the city of Stanley more than any other wildfire that I've seen here," he said.
People can still visit. However, Botti said road closures make that difficult.
State Highway 21 remains closed from east of Lowman to Stanley due to wildfire activity. Officials say the closure is "necessary for public safety and to provide safe conditions for firefighters working along the highway."
"I don't have any specific figures on how much loss of business there's been and how devastating that is," he said, "but it will be significant."
Clegg said everyone in Stanley is getting hit.
"I think all the businesses ... would say that they're down," he said. "It's been a hard year, but we're still standing, and we're going to make it."
The best way to support business is to visit when able and to book in advance for summer 2024, Clegg said.
Botti said they are exploring all options to help keep people on their feet. That includes looking at disaster relief programs through the Idaho Chamber of Commerce. Money would go to qualifying business owners.
Crews are busy trying to take fuel away from the fire, which includes purposefully setting fires in some areas, Defries said.
Firefighters are in for a tough fight the next couple of days because of shifting winds, he said. Right now, a big priority is making sure homes in and around Stanley are protected.
"This is a very special place, and it involves three national forests," Defries said. "Along with public and firefighter safety and with making sure that we do our best to protect people's homes, properties and other infrastructure from this fire, and it's been very, very aggressive fire, we are also very mindful of all of the beautiful places here, and working to not only take actions where we can to stop the fire, where it's appropriate, but also to do it with great care, because that is what these great forests deserve."
There is a community meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the Lowman Fire Station.