Authorities are searching for whoever left an unextinguished campfire they say led to the largest wildfire in Idaho this year that has drawn hundreds of firefighters, three of whom died.
Wildfire officials said Wednesday that the 200-square-mile Moose Fire in east-central Idaho near the town of Salmon that started in mid-July is only about half contained.
The U.S. Forest Service said interviews by its special agents and law enforcement officers as well as forensic processing of where the fire originated identified an unattended campfire as the source.
The agency said the fire began in a dispersed camping area between the Salmon River Road and the main Salmon River, across from the Moose Creek drainage. It then spread from grass and shrubs to forests at higher elevations, officials said, eventually forcing the evacuations of residents near the town of Salmon.
The agency is asking the public’s help in identifying anyone present at the camping area from the afternoon of July 16 to the morning of July 17.
State and federal authorities in recent years have bolstered efforts to hold responsible careless campers, fireworks users and public lands target-shooters, seeking firefighting costs that can reach millions of dollars.
“The program has had to expand, of course, because we have more need because of human-caused negligent fires,” said Jessica Gardetto, external affairs chief for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management at the Boise, Idaho-based National Interagency Fire Center.
She cited an increase in public land use during the COVID-19 pandemic, with recreationists possibly new to the outdoor experience and unfamiliar with safely using a fire in wildland areas.
