GARDEN VALLEY, Idaho — The Middle Fork Complex, which includes the Bulldog and Nellie fires, has turned Garden Valley into a smoky mess and made travel very difficult, but there is hope on the horizon.
- The Garden Valley base camp has a support staff of over 700 personnel supporting each other and working to combat the flames.
- Just on Monday alone planes scooped up 250 thousand gallons of water from Deadwood Reservoir to fight the fires.
- Remember to pay attention to the reader boards on Highway 55 and in and around Garden Valley.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
"Obviously it's a huge amount of logistics that we have to worry about."
Toby Weed is with a fire crew known as the Great Basin IMT 3 and says his crew is doing everything they can to beat down these fires. I asked Toby about the challenges they face. "How difficult is it for you guys to fight a fire in this terrain? "
Well, it's incredibly difficult, is super steep and very rocky and there's always a lot of tree hazards which threatens firefighters when they go into the line that means we have to fight the fires on our terms."
Which means stopping the fire on the perimeters, which will stop the spread and let the fire burn itself out. With a support staff of over 700 people, Garden Valley has a new neighborhood.
"It's just like a mini city where we have a grocery store, a supply unit our food unit, and the shower unit and all these tents are different functions within the team structure."
A mini city that gets new residents every two weeks. Because that's how long each team can stay on a fire.
To understand the complexity of fighting a fire in this terrain you have watch how the Heli-camp operates. There have six helicopters working around the clock supporting the crews on the ground with supplies and more importantly dropping water on the fire lines.
Just on Monday alone planes scooped up 250 thousand gallons of water from Deadwood Reservoir.
As with any remote wildfire, Mother Nature will eventually have to drop rain and snow to get it completely out.
As a friendly reminder, please pay attention to the reader boards on Highway 55 and in and around Garden Valley. We ran into a trucker and a delivery driver who did not and had to turn around.
