BOISE, Idaho — Idaho is in the middle of its peak fire season and with more hot temperatures in the forecast, Jared Jablonski with the Boise Bureau of Land Management says conditions are just right for a wildfire to spark.
"The vegetation has gotten to the point where it is really dried out," Jablonski explained. "We are somewhere between advanced and extreme live field moistures and of course, the weather is very hot and dry with low relative humidity."
People, unintentionally, play a big role in how wildfires start. More than 75% of wildfire in the Boise BLM district this year have been human-caused.
Jablonski said people's cars and trucks are usually the culprits.
"A lot of it is people not securing their chains," Jablonski explained. "So, dragging chains creating sparks, driving off into dry vegetation with their vehicles, the undercarriages of vehicles can get really hot and start fires easily. Make sure your tire pressure is appropriate because if you run low on tire pressure and your rim hits the roadway surface, sparks can start a fire that way."
Once a fire has started, Jablonski urges folks to stay out of the way.
Drones have hindered fire crews' progress in battling the Pumpkin Fire, which is burning near Horseshoe Bend and Placerville and has dealt with drones at least three times.
"If you fly your drone in the airspace then it shuts down everything," Jablonski said. "Not only is it dangerous and you could cause a fatal accident of an aircraft, we have to shut down all operations until it can be confirmed that that drone is no longer in the airspace."
COVID-19 has also been another challenge while fighting the Pumpkin Fire as a firefighter tested positive for the virus earlier this week.
Luckily, Jablonski said it doesn't appear to have spread to other crew members, likely because precautions are in place.
"Instead of our big fire camps where everybody eats together and they all sleep in the same area, crews are breaking up into smaller camps, they are eating separately, they are in what we call family units, they are sticking with their immediate family crews not mingling with other crews," Jablonski stated.
The pandemic could put a potential strain on crews so don't let your vehicle or aircraft fuel the fire.