A week after Valley Fire threatened Boise homes, here’s where containment stands

One week after it burned to the edge of some Southeast Boise neighborhoods , the Valley Fire is about three-quarters contained, with efforts continuing to prevent the fire from doing further damage.

After an interagency meeting Friday morning, officials also are already focusing on how to mitigate any long-term impacts from a wildfire that has burned through 9,904 acres since it was first reported before daylight on Friday, Oct. 4, according to an update from the Idaho Department of Lands.

The containment level on the fire is 74%, the Friday update said, with the northeast corner being the exception, closest to the Robie Creek community. That area remains at Level 1 “Ready” evacuation status, which is the lowest threat level.

No injuries or structure losses have been reported.

“Interior, the fire’s not growing,” Robbie Johnson, a public information officer for the Department of Lands, told the Idaho Statesman.

“The northeast section ... is more active. It’s steep terrain and timber, much different than what people see from Boise in the Foothills.”

Johnson said fire crews are constantly monitoring the containment line around the fire, and “they don’t expect the fire to cross.”

The Department of Lands update this morning said 164 personnel are involved in the mitigation efforts, including from the Bureau of Land Management and the Boise Fire Department.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and there is no estimate yet for full containment, though Johnson said the situation is “looking really solid.”

Dry conditions and gusts of wind up to 16 miles per hour have been adding to containment challenges, the update said. And the Department of Lands warned people to use caution and pay attention to signs regarding fire traffic areas, including trail closures.

Idaho Highway 21 remains open, but the state’s update noted that “all roads and trails on the Boise Front segment of the Boise River WMA west of Highway 21 and north of Warm Springs Avenue are closed to all entry until further notice.”

On Friday morning, agencies met with the Nevada Incident Management Team to discuss long-term impacts of the fire. An incident management team is responsible for making repairs to damage caused by the fire and the act of firefighting, Johnson told the Statesman.

Johnson said the meeting was intended to “start that conversation as agencies about, you know, what’s next, or what are the options? How can they work together?”

“There’s concerns about flooding or erosion potential, because a lot of that vegetation is gone. … Just coming up with methods to address it before there’s potential flooding, or other things that are generally associated with a large area of burned landscape like we’re seeing on the Foothills.”

In the meantime, fire personnel continue to utilize helicopters to take water from Lucky Peak Lake and dump it on the fire’s most active portion in the northeast corner, the Department of Lands said.