Fire Activity Increasing in Region
Fire activity has increased significantly in our region in the past week or so. However, we are fortunate enough to not have any fires closer to home.
The closest large fire to our readership area is the Tartar Fire in western Washington County near the Snake River. As of Tuesday the fire was listed on www.watchduty.org at over 12,000 acres with 15% containment. This fire grew in size from a couple hundred acres over the weekend and has forced evacuations in portions of the Mann Creek area. It was started by lightning according to fire officials.
Council, Mesa and Cambridge have each had small fires this season but have managed to avoid large conflagrations, significant damage or loss of life.
www.Idahofirewise.org has many resources for preparing property and family for a potential wildfire, including how to prepare for an evacuation. According to this website, 60% of lives lost to wildfire are from those who chose not to evacuate and ‘wait and see’ what the fire does.
One look outside and it’s easy to see the air quality is not great. If you need to get more precise than that, or are just curious, go to https://map.purpleair.com/ which shows a map of local air quality sensors and what they reporting. www.airnow.gov also has great resources to monitor air quality.
