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ITD ready to assist with wildfire traffic control

Despite an extended dry period and above-normal temperatures, the wildfire season remains relatively quiet in Idaho. Thursday, the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise reported just two major fires, burning only 632 acres.

ITD crews are trained and ready to provide traffic control assistance if fires cross or threaten state highways, said Bryan Smith, the department’s emergency program manager.

For the past few years, ITD has operated under a special memorandum of understanding with the Idaho Department of Lands. The agreement, which is a national model, outlines ITD’s responsibility to assist IDL’s firefighting efforts. Its primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of motorists and the efficient operation of the transportation system.

During an active fire, ITD will install initial temporary traffic controls as necessary, including regulatory signs, flagging, piloting operations and debris removal for the first 24 to 48 hours of incident management activities.

ITD also is responsible for “the establishment and installation of long-term temporary traffic control involving regulatory signage such as speed zones, "no stopping" and "no parking" zones on roads and will close roads that are under the jurisdiction of ITD, during the duration of the incident when necessary.

Authority to initiate temporary emergency blockage of state highways when fire activity or other incident activities significantly compromise safety of users can be transferred to IDL under the four-page agreement.

All signs, whether placed by ITD or IDL must conform to the standards specified by the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

NIFC reported “light wildfire” activity nationally, with 17 "large" fires burning nearly 424,210 acres in many of the western states. No fires were reported in Montana and Wyoming. Firefighters are battling four major blazes in Nevada and three in Alaska and Arizona.

On a national preparedness scale of 5, the current level is 3.

Since the fire season began, agencies have reported 188 fires.

Idaho’s largest fire is the Papouse fire in the Salmon-Challis National Forest. The 348-acre fire is about 40 miles west of Salmon; no estimate of containment is available. The Pardee fire on state land seven miles northwest of Kamiah reached 288 acres Thursday and was considered 75 percent contained.

The Burch fire in the Salmon Challis National Forest, 17 miles west of Salmon, was fully contained earlier this week at 316 acres.

The weather forecast is for scattered thunderstorms developing across southern California, the Southwest, the Great Basin, and the southern and central Rockies. Most storms will produce some rain but a few could produce locally heavy rain.

Motorists are urged to use caution when traveling through forests and rangeland.