Nearly half a million acres have burned in Idaho as fires engulf national forestland across the state.
As of Saturday, more than a dozen wildfires were blazing across the mountain West state, according to the National Interagency Fire Center . Outside the state capital Boise, several fires in the Boise National Forest have burned more than 350,000 acres. Smoke has triggered local air quality indices near the fires to reach “very unhealthy” levels, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality.
Elsewhere in the state, the Red Rock fire, about 15 miles west of Salmon, a small city closer to the Montana border, has burned nearly 70,000 acres in the Salmon-Challis National Forest, according to an update Saturday. The fires, which started from a lightning strike, is currently 19% contained.
More than 600 personnel are fighting the fire, with firefighters burning areas near forest roads to prevent fuel for the fire to spread further, the update said. Dozers also are building fire lines toward the south.