Idaho wildfire spreads to 92,000 acres as more than a thousand homes evacuated

Jim Urquhart / Reuters

A tanker helicopter drops water as a firefighter works to douse a hot spot at the Beaver Creek wildfire outside Hailey, Idaho, on Saturday.

By Gillian Spear

Firefighters battled the raging Beaver Creek Fire for the 10th day on Saturday as it threatened 10,000 homes near the resort towns of Hailey and Ketchum, Idaho.

The inferno had burned nearly 93,000 acres by Saturday evening, up from 64,000 on Friday, according to fire officials, but just one home has been lost so far.

Evacuation zones were expanded to areas north of Ketchum, and in the evening, residents of West Ketchum were put on notice that they might ordered to flee. So far mandatory evacuations cover 2,250 homes in the area, and 7,700 more are under pre-evacuation notice, NBC station KTVB of Boise reported. The Sun Valley ski resort is also at risk.

More than 800 state and federal firefighters are attempting to put out the fire with air support, said officials who are also dealing with nine other large wildfires in the region.?Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter issued a disaster declaration Friday evening and assigned the Idaho National Guard to provide support,?KTVB reported.

---

The fire was 9 percent contained Saturday.

?We?re overwhelmed really with doing evacuations, so we?re basically doing it by phone, and then we?re following up going door to door,? Blaine County Sheriff Gene Ramsey told KTVB. ?People have been very receptive and a majority of people are leaving, of course there?s always a few who want to stay, and I hope they don?t endanger anybody by staying.?

The wildfire was ignited by lighting on Aug. 7, according to officials.?Gusty winds and low humidity have made the fire unpredictable and caused it to expand rapidly, officials said. Temperatures were in the 90s on Saturday.

The fire is tearing across the state. Nearly 100,000 acres have burned already. Now the flames threaten 1,600 homes. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

The National Weather Service forecasts that such conditions will continue over the weekend.?

The Beaver Creek Fire has claimed one primary residence, one bunkhouse and six other buildings, federal fire information officer Sandy Miller told Reuters.

"A lot of people are just watching the fire and our customers are talking about nothing else," Alexis Sualez, barista at Zaney's River Street Coffee House in Hailey, told Reuters. "People are pretty worried."

The valley is full of gated subdivisions of log mansions and luxury homes and is a playground of the rich and famous.

To the west of the Beaver Creek Fire, the Elk Complex Fire had burned more than 125,000 acres and reduced at least 38 homes to cinders by Friday. Mike and Cathy Weil, residents of Pine, Idaho, sat outside as the flames approached their house, then set their shed and a tree on their property aflame, according to KTVB.

?It was just me, the Lord and a garden house,? Mike Weil told the station. ?That?s what I had right there. Not too terribly bad, but not much against what we had out here.?

Daniel Arkin of NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report.

Jim Urquhart / Reuters

Flames blaze down a ridge as the Beaver Creek wildfire rages outside Hailey August 16, 2013.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/30112099/sc/11/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A80C170C20A0A655680Eidaho0Ewildfire0Espreads0Eto0E920A0A0A0Eacres0Eas0Emore0Ethan0Ea0Ethousand0Ehomes0Eevacuated0Dlite/story01.htm

Tropical Storm Chantal amber rose andy murray Monica Wright Alaska plane crash john kerry Roswell UFO Incident