3/21/2013
Reed Hollinshead
ITD Communication
208-334-8881
reed.hollinshead@itd.idaho.gov
ITD southwest Idaho office reducing cost of I-84 roadside fires
BOISE - Last summer, fire agencies spent hundreds of millions of dollars on fire-fighting efforts in Idaho. This spring, the Idaho Transportation Department's southwest Idaho office is doing its part locally to reduce those expenses and the economic impacts to motorists from Interstate 84 detours required to fight fires.
Click here for a picture of a fire along I-84 last July.
From Boise to Glenns Ferry, a 64-mile stretch of highway, ITD is spraying weeds and grasses on the roadway shoulder to reduce available vegetation (consumable fuel for the fire) up to eight feet off the highway’s edge.
The spraying is expected to cost about $30,000 – a far cry from the total spent to fight fires last year along Idaho roads.
Last year alone, according to the Bureau of Land Management’s Boise District Resource Advisory Council, 16 fires started along I-84 between milepost 60 and 110. The fires burned more than 5,480 acres at a cost of $282,000 to BLM alone, not including costs to other fire agencies. The dollar amount represents the costs of fire suppression only. Lost habitat, lost grazing land, damage to resources and lost income certainly amounted to a significant figure, but are not as easily quantifiable.
Tom Points, ITD’s Maintenance Operations Manager for the southwest Idaho region, said that a review of the fire data shows that most fires started within two-to-three feet of the edge of pavement. Accordingly, ITD is undertaking these measures:
- Begin a three-year cycle of grading the shoulder areas along i-84 to remove the buildup of grasses as a source for fuel for the fires.
- Mow farther off the edge using an 18-foot-wide strip (it was 10- or 12-feet wide before)
- Adopt a bare-ground treatment eight feet from the edge of pavement for fires, enacted after consultations with the Oregon DOT branch in Ontario, which has implemented the policy in Eastern Oregon. The policy aims to keep the highway shoulders free of vegetation through chemical applications.
ITD has also worked with the BLM the past five years to establish low-growing, fire-resistant grasses along the I-84 corridor.
Click here for a picture of ITD spraying along the highway.
