Grays Fire - a Close Call in Mesa

Last Thursday afternoon a brush fire broke out on the west side of Highway 95 and south of Mesa Road. The fire quickly moved north up the hill and threatened homes in and around Mesa Road and Highland Lane. The first page went out at 2:24 p.m..

By Thursday evening the Adams County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) was reporting that the fire was 90% contained and evacuation orders for the area had been lifted. An aerial assessment completed by a Sheriff’s drone indicates that about 350 acres burned but no homes were lost. Three outbuildings were lost in the fire. Crews mopped up late that evening before clearing the scene.

ACSO and Indian Valley Fire Chief Josh Barritt reported that the fire was human caused but was not intentional. The fire started just south of Mesa Road at a construction site.

When the call came in, Indian Valley Fire immediately requested mutual aid from Council Fire. Soon after, mutual aid was requested from Weiser, Midvale, Cambridge and New Meadows. ACSO reported that two dozen pieces of heavy equipment were on scene with over 100 fire personnel and ten water trucks. Evacuation orders were issued immediately with ACSO personnel going door to door in the area.

In addition to the fire equipment already mentioned, many neighbors rushed in to help where they could. Some helped with evacuating neighbors, some hopped on their own equipment to place firebreaks and some made sure the firefighters had cold drinks on the hot day. It was easily over 90 degrees in Mesa that afternoon.

One of these neighbors was Brady Glauthier. Brady is a retired Fire Chief from Oak Creek, Colorado and is in the process of moving to Mesa. He was in the area of Highland Lane when, according to himself, neighbors and fire personnel, he smelled the fire, saw that it was moving north quickly, called 911 and got on his dozer to start placing firebreaks to the east, just south of several homes. While on his dozer he contacted Chief Josh Barritt to coordinate his work and to seek further direction. It is likely that his work saved homes in Mesa that afternoon.

Brady was impressed with the community response and said what he saw in Mesa that afternoon was ‘outstanding.’ He wanted to be sure and thank Taran York with TCY excavation for helping move the rest of his equipment out of harms way while he was working the fire.

A spokesperson with Idaho Power confirmed that the power outage was caused by the fire itself and was not a preemptive Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS). Power was restored just after midnight on July 10 to all customers in the area.

In a first for Adams County and as mentioned above, the ACSO drone was used to provide aerial imagery of the fire so first responders could assess the fire, direct their resources and estimate acreage and containment.

The Indian Valley Fire Department now has a dozer in house which was used on this fire. The department was able to purchase it at auction from Idaho Department of Lands at a price they couldn’t turn down. It’s older but has lower hours so it should have plenty of useful life left in it.

Josh Barritt, Indian Valley Fire Chief would like to thank the departments that responded with mutual aid and in particular Sean Stanford, Council Fire Chief, and Doug Buys, Meadows Valley Fire Chief, in helping manage the incident with their knowledge and expertise. Josh also thanked Nathan Noah for using his dozer on the fire, CTC for donating the use of their dozer and water tender, Adams County for their water tender and of course all the volunteers from these departments that walked away from their jobs at a moments notice. Barritt also thanked the numerous neighbors who brought resources and help to the fire fighting effort in any way. Josh wanted to be sure and thank everyone that helped. If you’re not listed here, Josh and the community are still very grateful for your help. Josh went on to say that volunteer fire departments have very limited budgets and resources and this help goes a long way in protecting homes.

www.nifc.gov/fire-information/fire-prevention-education-mitigation has information about how to make your home and property more resistant to wildfires.