Firefighters are being challenged by many fires in Idaho. Three of the largest are the Mustang, Halstead, and Trinity Ridge fires.

Mustang Fire

The Mustang Complex is 22 miles northwest of Salmon, Idaho, caused by lightning over the weekend of July 28-29. Five of the fires, the Mustang, Broomtail, Roan, Cayuse and East Butte have burned together. The Lost Packer Fire continues to burn and and increase in size. The Complex is about 25 miles northwest of Salmon, Idaho. It was confirmed on Saturday that the Beartrap Lookout was destroyed by the fire.

Carlton Joseph, the Fire Management Officer on the Cleveland National Forest in southern California is the Incident Commander. The complex of fires has burned 89,000 acres and is 6 percent contained. Considering those numbers, it is surprising that only 496 personnel are assigned to the fire. But, firefighting resources are stretched very thin now.

Trinity Ridge Fire

The Trinity Ridge fire forced the evacuation of the Featherville area on Saturday. Firefighters expected the fire, approaching from two different fronts, to reach the community late in the day on Sunday. There was a Red Flag warning in effect Sunday due to possible thunderstorms, complicating things for firefighters. The fire is being managed by Rich Harvey’s incident management team and has burned 88,000 acres since August 3. It is 5 percent contained and is being fought by 1,087 personnel.

Halstead Fire

The Halstead fire, caused by lightning, has burned 92,000 acres since it began three weeks ago, and it is also 5 percent contained. Bob Housman is the Incident Commander of the fire, which is located 18 miles northwest of Stanley, Idaho. Assigned to the fire are 488 personnel.