The Ohio Fire was first reported early Saturday afternoon off Ohio Gulch Road northeast of Hailey and has quickly spread to an estimated 500 acres according to fire officials.
As of 7:15 p.m. the Blaine County Sheriff's office says The Indian Creek and Ohio Gulch zones are under level three, 'go now' evacuation orders. The Hiawatha zone, just northeast of Hailey, off Buttercup Road is under a level two, 'be set' evacuation warning, and the Sheriff's office has now issued a level two warning for the East Fork-Triumph zone, about two miles east of Highway 75 up East Fork Road. The Red Cross is establishing an evacuation shelter at Life Church on Mckercher Blvd. There is no evacuation shelter at Wood River Middle School, which was previously announced by the Sheriff's Office as a shelter location.
Blaine County Emergency Evacuation Map
The Sheriff's office has closed Buttercup Road at Highway 75 and Red Devil Lane due to the fire and asks travelers to avoid the area.
"Your presence is making it harder for our emergency personnel," the office posted on social media.
Nationally, The National Interagency Fire Center increased the national fire preparedness level to 5 on Saturday, it's highest. Fire officials say 17,683 firefighters are currently deployed across the country, battling 73 large fires - 17 of them new. The amount of resources deployed over a wide geographic area led to the preparedness level increase. NIFC is also receiving multiple large tanker planes from Air National Guard units in Colorado, California and Wyoming to support firefighting efforts across the west.
To date, NIFC reports 40,357 fires this season have burned 3.8 million acres.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
