ADA COUNTY, Idaho — Boise's Bureau of Land Management Fire and Aviation responded to three wildfires Wednesday. All are believed to be sparked by humans.
The area where fire investigators believed the Black Fire was sparked had multiple rounds of shells from shotguns, full and empty beer cans with bullet holes, and trash.
The investigation is still ongoing for the exact cause, and the BLM can only report that it was human-caused.
Over 500 acres south of Black Creek Reservoir have been burned.
Fire Mitigation and Education Specialist Jared Jablonski, from Boise's BLM, says that the main concern right now is human-caused fires that are often sparked by shooting guns next to dry vegetation.
“This year we have definitely seen an uptick in shooting-related fires. We have a fire prevention order in place from May 10 to October 20 on BLM grounds in Idaho that prevents the use of ignitionary devices, steel core ammunition, tracer ammunition, exploding targets, and shooting at metal targets,” says Jablonski.
If people are found violating the order in place, they could be charged a fine of up to $100,000, as well as suppression costs.
Jablonski says his team has already extinguished eight shooting-related fires so far. On average, they see about ten a whole year.
Besides shooting-related fires, the top ignitors of wildfires that the BLM sees are vehicle and firework-related.
With these in mind, the BLM is working to prevent and educate the public as much as possible.
“We have our fire prevention order that we get out, we meet frequently about fire restrictions and we go over criteria, and if we start to see a lot of human-caused fires, and the fuel and weather conditions are there, then we might start implementing fire restrictions,” says Jablonski.
Both the BLM and Idaho News 6 Chief Meteorologist Scott Dorval agree that while the Treasure Valley has had a slower start to this year’s fire season, it could be another smokey summer, so prevention is key.
