A change of winds caused a fire southeast of Boise to spread overnight, causing significant damage.
The Plex Fire had grown to 350 acres by 8 a.m. Thursday, said Jared Jablonski, mitigation education specialist with the Bureau of Land Management’s Boise bureau.
The brush fire started near South Eyele Avenue and East Plexi Court around 6 p.m. Wednesday evening. The fire began fairly small at 20 acres, but had grown to 250 acres by 11 p.m.
Officials closed Idaho 21 between South Technology Way and East Warm Springs to allow fire crews to access the area, according to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office.
“I’ve just been advising folks to avoid this area,” Jablonski told the Idaho Statesman by phone. “Obviously, you can’t use the road, and if you’re going to come look, it just creates more congestion down here and makes it harder for us to move our equipment around.”
Fire personnel had the Plex Fire at 80% containment by 11 p.m., Jablonski said. Then, a wind shift began pushing the fire to the west toward the Boise River canyon near Lucky Peak Lake.