Glendale Fire burns UI’s Rinker Rock Creek Ranch

On Sept. 2, a lightning storm struck down near Bellevue, Idaho, igniting a wildfire dubbed the Glendale Fire. The wildfire reached over 10,000 acres of burning throughout Blaine County, with winds spreading the fire quickly across the rangeland.  

The fire was deemed contained on Wednesday, Sept. 4, when the local Blaine County Sheriff’s Office lowered its level three mandatory evacuation order for residents in the area. The area is now on a level one evacuation notice, where residents should be ready to leave if conditions change.  

The University of Idaho’s Rinker Rock Creek Ranch was among the damaged lands the Glendale Fire burned through early in the week. The ranch is jointly managed by the College of Natural Resources and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, who manage students and faculty doing research on the vast property.  

According to Cameron Weskamp, the Operations Manager for Rinker Rock Creek Ranch, the wildfire burned through a good stretch of the northern end of the ranch on Monday, Sept. 2. 

“It burned through an area we call Cow Camp, which is where we house our interns, graduate students and field groups,” Weskamp said. This area contains facilities such as wall tents, an outdoor kitchen, sheds and storage. “It did burn through there, but a lot of the infrastructure was not damaged. There are things that will need to be repaired and replaced, but a lot of the infrastructure managed to survive.”  

No structures at all were lost to the Glendale Fire, according to the Idaho Mountain Express Newspaper.  

Some houses and structures were damaged, but the wildfire was a flanking fire, according to Eye on Sun Valley, a local news. Flanking fires run parallel to the wind but usually run at lower temperatures than other types of wildfires. The fire burning at a lower temperature controlled the level of damage done to building structures. 

Also, according to Eye on Sun Valley, firefighters from Wood River Fire & Rescue, North Blaine County Fire District, Hailey Fire, Bellevue Fire and Carey Fire were all on scene, working hard to contain the fire. They built fire lines and dumped water on hot spots, managing the fire’s spreading successfully. 

The Rinker Rock Creek Ranch is still assessing how much damage the fire has caused the ranch, including assessing how much acreage has burned and the intensity of the damage on the grazing lands.  

Events such as the Science Saturday event planned for this weekend, have been cancelled on the ranch. Local educational opportunities the ranch offers were also cancelled for the fall semester because of the fire’s impact, Weskamp said.  

“We are going to do our best to recover and rebuild the infrastructure necessary to kick off the field season next spring,” Weskamp said. A lot of fencing on the property was damaged and will need to be rebuilt to manage the cattle located on the ranch.  

“I am sure we will be working on a plan to reseed and stabilize some of the areas that have been burned. And I am sure there will be a research component to a lot of the work that is done post-fire,” Weskamp said. “Down the line, there will be some interesting research that hopefully comes out of this.”  

Georgia Swanson can be reached at [email protected]