A plea from an area fire chief, a demonstration of burning grass, and a Fourth-of-July warning
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It’s hot. It’s dry. And that means fire – fire in the grass, fire in the house, fire on the mountain. Video by IdahoOnYourSide.com
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It’s hot. It’s dry. And that means fire – fire in the grass, fire in the house, fire on the mountain.
“We’ve got a lot of wild, erratic fire-behavior,” Nampa Deputy Fire Chief Doug Strosnider said. “I can’t tell you that we haven’t had dryer weather than this by any means, but I can tell you that the fuel-loads that are out there right now are extremely heavy.”
For that, Strosnider blamed a pair of wet springs last year and the year before.
“We never really got near hot and dry like we are right now,” he said, “and so that fuel – even from last year – sat through the year and now that fuel’s down there in a base beside this new fuel.”
Nampa declared the first burn ban in its history, Thursday. Boise Deputy Chief Fire Marshal Romeo Gervais said neighboring Boise planned to meet next week to discuss doing the same.
Despite those precautions, fire departments across the valley waited, Friday, dreading the Fourth of July – when burn ban or not, legal fireworks will remain legal.
“Unfortunately,” Strosnider said, “I think that [outlawing all fireworks] be a great route to go, but right now I’m not sure we have the ability to do that.”
Fire leaders like Strosnider can only ask that maybe this year people pass on explosives, instead opting to watch a public display, allowing towns across the state to play it just a little safer.
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