A man burned his trash to avoid paying for its disposable. Too bad he did it in dry season! The wind spread the fire to 600 acres. Guess who’s paying for the damages after the jump.
Emma Rabid
Fire crews battled a large wildfire near Weiser from the air and ground Tuesday.
The fire is called the Sagebrush Fire and as of Tuesday night had burned around 600 acres according to BLM. It broke out around 12:30 p.m.
Kay Wyss and her family who watched as firefighters staged an all out battle to save her home.
When NewsChannel 7 first arrived, the fire was within sight of homes but homeowners couldn’t have guessed it would get as close as it did.
It was an emotional and frightening experience for those residents.
“It’s just been burning, yeah. It was going east and south for a long time, but then the wind shifted so now as you can see, it’s up on the hill,” said Wyss.
“And your house is?” asked NewsChannel 7.
“Up on the hill,” she replied.
Since just after noon Wyss had been watching a towering, spinning fire burn through sagebrush.
“A lot of the flames. We were watching it swirling like a tornado,” she said.
Once far away from her home — in just a few hours, she and her family saw a quick change.
They watched all day as the fire came over the hills, went over and actually jumped over the road and headed right for their house.
“I’m going to have to go up to the corner to see if that’s my house.”
We followed Wyss and her granddaughters down the road. Luckily, it had not reached their home.
Firefighters had moved into her yard, spraying water, protecting her home.
“It’s a little too close for comfort,” she said.
Meanwhile, airplanes flew overhead, dropping lines of retardant.
“Right on my house, right on my yard. Whoosh,” said Wyss.
Wyss’s house wasn’t the only house in danger. We were right outside of another house watching flames roll down the hillside toward us when suddenly an air attack in that exact place.
For hours multiple local fire departments, the Payette National Forest and BLM worked to save homes, something that Wyss finds a lot of comfort in.
“The firefighters are up there though. They’ll save the house,” she said.
She planned to stay there overnight and says firefighters will be right there throughout the night watching out for everyone.
BLM officials say the Sagebrush Fire was contained by noon Wednesday and there were no reports of any structures lost.
