Redfish Lake Lodge owners on Bench Lake Fire disrupting operations
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Friday marks one week since the Bench Lake Fire forced evacuations of the Redfish Lake recreation complex, the first of its kind incident since 2013.
On Thursday we caught up with the Clegg family, who has run daily operations of the complex for the past 26 years and became owners of the lodge this year.
They have 105 employees that live on site, but fortunately, those employees found accommodations elsewhere.
And at any given time during the summer, there are between three and four thousand people at Redfish Lake, whether those are guests or employees.
A normally bustling tourist destination, is now desolate.
On July 12th, Sawtooth National Recreation Area officials issued an emergency closure for the lodge, associated buildings, roads, trails, trail heads and campgrounds.
“There was no immediate, imminent threat, so they kind of had us go out on the beach, and say we’re going to be evacuating, but yeah, we don’t need to rush, just kind of pull your things together, slowly make your way out to the highway,” Jeff Clegg, the owner explained. “It was really smooth, frankly nobody wants to get that call, but people were great, understanding, disappointed, of course.”
Instead of catering to guests, Jeff has been shuttling hotshot crews across the lake. He says crews built a fire line above the lodge, but his wife Audra says Wednesday’s winds shifted.
“That was when things really got real, that was very, very scary. Jeff and I both looked around and I think 30 or 40 hotshots just popped out of the bushes; literally right now you can’t see anyone, but they had hoses in their hands and shovels and they really guarding the structure,” Audra explained. “It was genuinely terrifying. The hill was red the smoke was everywhere and honestly we thought this was it.”
The Bench Lake Fire is estimated to have burned two thousand acres.
No word yet on when Redfish Lake will reopen.
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