Tamarack Resort reopening Friday after suspending operations due to fire threat

UPDATE (Sept.12, 11 a.m.): With heavy rain on Thursday, and the forecast showing more on the way Friday, Tamarack Resport plans to resume operations and welcome guests back to the resort on Friday, Sept.13.

Tamarack Resort will continue to work with local authorities and monitor the fire south of the Resort closely.

Tamarack Resort has had a few tense days as the Boulder and Lava fires came together just miles from the top of the mountain ridge. But thousands of firefighters and support teams have been working around the clock in two week shifts to combat the flames.

• Tamarack Resort had to suspend operations because of fires
• Boulder and Lava fires have combined to reach over 78,000 acres
• Wednesday afternoon showers have helped in firefighting efforts

(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)

Here at the Cabarton Road incident command center, all eyes are still on the Boulder fire than has now combined with the Lava Fire to the south.

Fire public information officer Kathryn Abrahamson explains, "As you can see, a lot of smoke, and so certainly it affects flights and crews as they are working on fire lines and working to protect structures."

On Tuesday, officials at Tamarack Resort suspended operations because the winds had shifted the flames in their direction. President of Tamarack Resort Scott Turlington told us that he has been in close contact with fire officials.

At Tamarack, like many other resorts, they turn on their snow guns to put moisture in the air to raise the humidity. But they also turned their guns on the mid mountain lodge that is planning to open this December.

Turlington told Idaho News 6 what they have been doing, "We spent a lot of time this summer, devoted a lot of attention to creating defensible space on our borders on the mountain and on the public lands that are adjacent to us by cutting fifty-foot lines so we have break so if a fire comes in it hits the ground and slows down."

An early afternoon storm brought in plenty of rain, but lightning and winds with it. Something folks here at Tamarack are well aware of.

"What we did with homeowners is we let them know that we've entered into set stage you are not required to evacuate but it time to have everything together because you can from set to go overnight," Turlington said.

I asked Abrahamson what their focus is right now, "The focus for firefighters on the Boulder fire is structure protection activities, sprinklers to protect all the property on this side of Lake Cascade."

Another fire official told us the rain showers that were heavy in some areas are helping in the firefighting efforts.