Firefighters are making progress in their battles against two large Idaho wildfires still minimally contained. Evacuations on one blaze, the Rattlesnake Creek Fire, have been downgraded.
When evacuations are at the “Go” phase, that means it’s time to peel out of the driveway with your pets and important documents loaded in the car. Earlier this week, several residential areas threatened by the Rattlesnake Creek Fire were at that top evacuation level.
“On the northern part of the fire, we do have some containment lines that are in there, and that has allowed for the evacuation levels to drop one level,” says Sandra Lopez, a public information officer for the team fighting the fire. “Some are at ‘Be Ready,’ some are at ‘Be Set.’ There are no levels of ‘Go.’”
Lopez says morale among crews fighting the Rattlesnake Creek Fire is high. She wants to remind the public to keep their drones away from fire areas. Air operations on the fire have been suspended three times due to drone inference.
To the east, pre-evacuations are in place for the Rabbit Foot Fire. Spokeswoman Patty Bean says firefighters are using an indirect strategy to battle the flames burning in rugged backcountry.
“We’re building a catcher’s mitt for the fire to come out from a really difficult area to an area that is much easier and safer for our firefighters to directly engage,” Bean says.
So far, the Rabbit Foot Fire has scorched around 55 square miles north of Challis.
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