Bench Lake Fire continues to grow, now up to near 2,000 acres

STANLEY, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — The Bench Lake Fire continues to burn thousands of acres of forest near Redfish Lake.

According to the United States Forest Service, the fire burned approximately 2,037 acres on Thursday and was three percent contained. Around 331 first responders are now helping to fight the fire.

The Forest Service said crews have made progress in guiding the fire into marshy terrain to slow its intensity. Crews plan to contain the fire along the lake’s edge by constructing more firelines. Aerial resources have dropped over 900,000 gallons of water to combat the fire.

“Fourteen engines, four hotshot crews, three type two crews, two scoopers, four helicopters and one drone,” said Jake Williams, Operations Section Chief of Great Basin Team Four.

Williams is one of many people helping to try and control the flames that broke out last week.

Also on the fire lines is Rowdy Haskins, a pilot of one of the helicopters.

“Our helicopters got a big bucket, 2,600 gallons on the bottom of it so it can get into real tight spots,” Haskins said. “It can find real precision points.”

The helicopter has a suction which allows it to collect water to drop on the fire.

Haskins says all the smoke in the area is creating problems.

“Now the smoke is pretty darn thick so they can fly right now,” Haskins said. “Usually in the afternoon it’ll clear out a little bit and they’ll start fighting it and we’ll fight it as long as we can until dark.”

Williams adds that the terrain in the basin has made it difficult to contain the flames.

“It’s not your typical fire where we can move around easily on that hillside and the fuel type is very thick,” Williams said. “It’s heavy timber dead and down so it just slows resources down and that’s going to hamper containment efforts.”

Another issue is that Williams keeping first responders and people in the area safe makes this process logistically tricky.

Currently, the Redfish Complex is the only place under evacuation orders. According to the Forest Service, the Sawtooth National Forest has initiated Stage 1 fire restrictions, in which recreational campfires are only allowed in metal or concrete fire pits.

As the fire continues to grow, more help is on the way.

“So currently we have 2 more hotshot crews on order, plus three type 2 crews and numerous aviation resources on order,” Williams said.

Right now, how the fire started remains under investigation.

“We do have a fire investigator that should be showing up that’s on order and once the fire is safe enough for us to insert that person in the area,” Williams said. “They’ll do their investigation and complete their report.”

With increased temperatures and increased wind speed, the fire has been getting larger and larger day by day. According to Bench Lake officials, smoke has been visible in the Stanley Basin since Tuesday, and this trend will continue throughout this week.

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