SHOSHONE, Idaho — Last year’s Badger Fire eventually led to the evacuation of the Rock Creek Canyon area within Twin Falls County.
Many Magic Valley residents remember the sleepless nights the Badger fire gave them. In the end, no homes were lost thanks to the work of several agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management's Twin Falls district.
“We assisted with everything from equipment to supplies to overhead,” said BLM spokesperson Kelsey Brizendine. “Portions of the Badger Fire that did burn on BLM land, we are working in conjunction with the Sawtooth to stabilize and rehabilitate.”
While the typical busy time of this year's fire season is still a couple of months away, the BLM is currently hard at work preparing equipment, undergoing training, and reminding the community to remain vigilant when burning during dry conditions.
“We've had a lot of unintentionally escaped fires over the past couple of weeks,” Brizendine said. “People burning ditches, people burning fields, cleaning up around their properties and homes, and you just need to remember burning when it’s warm and windy is not always the best idea.”
Over the next couple of months, the BLM will continue to look at weather patterns, train rookies, and handle a lot of the paperwork side of things when preparing for an expected unpredictable fire season.
“I hope people are being careful and having a good firebreak around their burn piles so those fires won't escape and threaten any other people," said Bryan Barney, wildland fire investigator.
