Wildfires

Thick smoke from summertime wildfires can present major health risks. Prediction models help locals prepare for poor air quality to come, but the data behind those models is not as conclusive as we might think.

Recent wildfires in the Stanley area got a little help from FirstNet. It was a higher frequency network created by Congress after 9-11 to ensure first responders have the service they need to communicate. A “Cell on Light Truck” was sent to the Stanley area fires to help multiple agencies talk to each other. Idaho Matters finds out more about FirstNet and how it helps in emergencies, like wildfires.

It’s time for our Reporter Roundtable, where we get you up to date on all the news that made headlines around our region. Joining us this week are Kevin Richert of Idaho Ed News, Mike Sharp of KIVI Six On Your Side Television and Seth Ogilvie of Idaho Public Televison.

It’s no secret that wildfires are getting worse in the West. They’re threatening lives, homes and ecosystems. And they are also threatening our already-precarious watersheds. It’s all becoming a vicious cycle  — especially for the drier parts of our region.

In Idaho, we all experience wildfire smoke during the summer. But what is the cumulative effect of this smoke on our health, and how do we know when to take action? Is it getting worse in an era of climate change? We talk with Austin Walkins from the Idaho Conservation League. The advocacy organization has a new checklist for folks to understand their risks and make a plan.

The saying goes: only you can prevent wildfires. But it turns out, a few other methods are also pretty effective in curbing those seasonal menaces.

Idaho’s wet and cool start to summer has calmed some usual fears about our dangerous, dry lands. However, it may be too soon to tell how severe this year's fires may be.

In 2017, more than 500 people came together in Boise for a summit on climate change. One thing was made clear at the end of the summit: We need more information about the specific threats posed by a warming planet in Idaho, and we need more opportunities to find regional solutions to those threats.

Cassandra Fleckenstein is the center manager at the Vale District for the Bureau of Land Management. She's been in fire since 2006, getting started as a dispatcher right out of high school.

A wet spring is helping tamp down wildfire predictions in much of Idaho as we head into summer.

The Bureau of Land Management has banned fireworks and exploding targets this summer in Idaho.

Every summer, commercial mushroom pickers scour the previous summer's fire maps to find the most promising ground for morel picking. But in one of Idaho’s biggest burns, the forest will be closed to commercial picking.

NPR Reporter Kirk Siegler was at Storyfort in downtown Boise on Thursday, the 21st of March, 2019 to take a room of attendees behind-the-scenes of his continuing coverage of the Camp Fire aftermath in Paradise, Calif. He shared what it’s like to cover wildfires and natural disasters in a rapidly-changing climate in states including Idaho, and took questions from the audience. Boise State Public Radio was a sponsor for Storyfort, the literary portion of the annual Treefort Music Festival.

We’ve had a brutal fire season this year. The fires still burning across California have left more than 80 dead, and hundreds are still missing. Amidst the flames, a seemingly new trend has emerged – a two-tiered system with private firefighting resources for those who can afford them, and a system stretched thin for the rest.

Idaho is helping battle the wildfires wreaking havoc in California. Resources from the Gem State are on the front lines.