A wildfire burning on about 1,300 acres of U.S. Forest Service land in central Idaho was mostly contained Monday, but crews remained cautious with warmer temperatures expected later this week.
Firefighters had contained only about a third of the Hurd fire on Sunday, but officials reported Monday that 70 percent of the blaze had been squelched amid lower temperatures, intermittent rain and even the occasional snow flurry.
Federal land agencies have spent more than $5 million on efforts to put out the wildfire that has charred two square miles, threatened houses and forced hundreds to evacuate in the Tamarack Resort area. Crews deployed a constant flow of helicopters to dump water and douse the area with retardant to protect homes and other structures from damage. A
dramatic drop in temperature allowed crews to gain ground over the weekend and more than 650 firefighters remained Monday to secure the fire perimeter, check for hot spots and mop-up. Officials expect the wildfire to be fully contained by Sunday.
The colder weather over the weekend also helped crews at lower elevations in southern Idaho.
The Long Butte fire has burned more than 306,000 acres just west of Hagerman and was 95 percent contained. In southwestern Idaho, fire managers say the Hot Tea fire that started Friday 10 miles northeast of Mountain Home was 80 percent contained and has burned about 5,000 acres. (AP)
