Idaho Wildfire Burns 100,000 Acres, Displaces Thousands of Cattle

A wildfire in Idaho has burned nearly 100,000 acres in less than four days, killing some cattle and forcing thousands more off summer pasture. The Grassy Ridge Fire started on July 26 around 4 pm MST following a lightning strike between Dubois and St. Anthony. Starting out the fire was at 4,400 acres on Friday morning before tripling in acreage Friday night. The fire soon spread reaching approximately 60,000 acres on Saturday morning. As the fire grew it headed near Dubois, forcing the town of approximately 600 people to be evacuated on Saturday. The evacuation was eventually lifted on Sunday morning when the fire was contained in the area. According to the Incident Information System, a government interagency website for fire reports, indicates that 103,935 acres of land have burned as of 8 am MST on Monday with approximately 20% containment. The fire is primarily on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and state land. Reports on the website show 2,500 to 3,000 cattle have been gathered in the area and moved to safety. However, early reports indicated up to 100 cattle had died because of the Grassy Ridge Fire. A spokesperson with BLM has since said early reports might have been a too high...MORE

In the West there are a number of large fires with 98 total fires reported by the National Interagency Fire Center. Those fires have burned more than 1.2 million acres.