BANKS, Idaho — The Mile Marker 81 Fire near Banks has burned 330 acres as firefighters deal with numerous challenges while fighting this wildfire in one of the most popular recreation and travel corridors.
Highway 55 remains closed north of Banks because of debris that has fallen on the road, there have been no evacuations or injuries reported and the firefighters are preparing for a red flag warning on Thursday.
WATCH|Check out the video to see the flames on Wednesday night
At Banks, Highway 55 and 17 diverge between a steep knife-edge ridge and that's where this fire is burning, as IDL first got the call around 3 a.m. on Wednesday morning.
"The first challenge was finding access in this steep, rocky and rugged terrain," said Bryan Durkin of the Idaho Department of Lands. "Kudos to the incident commander to buy themselves time and the firefighters were able to follow that up with a lot of hard work in a very short period of time."
The main objective became stopping the fire from spreading north and air attacks slowed down the blaze to allow the firefighters to get up on the ridge and cut their line.
Once they stopped the fire in that direction and prevented it from heading towards Garden Valley, the firefighters made sure that embers did not cross the highways and the rivers that the firefighters were able to use for fire breaks.
"Right now we are looking pretty good. Last night the fire backed down to the highways," said Durkin. "It was a low-intensity fire that consumed the fuels, so those highways are serving very well for control lines for us."
I traveled up to Banks late Wednesday night to see the flames and I ran into a group of raft guides who work on the Payette River. They told me they woke up to ash on their tents as they spend the summer camping close to where the fire is burning.
"Tonight, we have just been watching kind of for lack of nothing better to do, but also because it is kind of scary," said Magnus Peterson of Bear Valley Rafting. "I just hope none of this gets any worse."
The amount of traffic on Highway 55 and 17 on Wednesday caused backups as it took people hours to get through this corridor. IDL says it's best to avoid the area if possible, especially because boulders and logs could fall on both highways at any time.
READ MORE | Highway 55 closed as wildfire continues to burn near Banks
