STAR, Idaho — The Middleton-Star Fire District held a donation drive from Friday through Sunday to help raise money, gift cards and supplies for a firefighter who lost his home in a wildfire.
Idaho and Oregon have been burning for more than a month with several large fires, but firefighters have been able to protect structures until a volunteer firefighter's home burned to the ground near Ola.
We checked in with the Middleton-Star Fire District on Sunday to find out how the donation drive is going for a Parma firefighter who was volunteering on the Paddock Fire.
"The public has been very generous donating stuff for the family and the firefighters who are out fighting the fire today," said Liz Bolts of the Middleton-Star Fire District. "There are over 200 people out on the fire line of just the Paddock Fire."
The Paddock Fire sparked on Monday because of lightning, but it quickly grew in size. As of Sunday morning it has burned nearly 200,000 acres, but firefighters have made their first progress on containing the fire, as it is five percent contained.
The new incident command team held a public meeting in Emmett on Saturday night as this fire has forced evacuations, closed roads, contributed to poor air quality in the state, burned the home of a volunteer firefighter and the incident commander told us the fire has a perimeter of 91 miles.
As for the donation drive, it picked up steam over the weekend and Liz Bolts is blown away by the generosity of the people in Idaho.
"I do not have an amount that has been collected, but I do know the response has been overwhelming," said Bolts. "Thank you to the Middleton-Star community and everyone else in the Treasure Valley who have donated, we are so proud of where we live."
The drive ended on Sunday, but if you want to help the volunteer firefighter you can contact the Parma Fire Department.
