Treasure Valley residents clean up after storm; 2,400 customers still without power | Fire Season 2010 | Idaho Statesman
BOISE -- Treasure Valley residents are cleaning up and dealing with physical and emotional wreckage after a storm ripped through southwest Idaho Saturday night, causing house fires, downed trees and power outages and one death.
Overnight, a home and six outbuildings on Pico Street near Federal Way and Kootenai Street and a duplex at Latah and Meadows burned when high winds dropped trees and power lines.
Nearly 70 people who were at the Western Idaho Fair were injured during the wind storm, including seven who were taken to the hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening. Emergency workers estimated that another 70 other people received treatment for minor cuts and bruises at the Ada County Paramedics office located on the fairgrounds.
New tree fires and downed power lines were reported early Sunday morning and a 45-year-old Boise man camping north of Idaho 21 in the Boise National Forest was killed when a microburst brought a tree down on him late Saturday. Officials have not yet released his name.
By Sunday night, at least 2,400 customers were still without power as Idaho Power crews worked to fix downed lines. As many as 50,000 customers had been without power overnight.
In Ada County, dispatchers reported downed trees on residential streets, but no major roads were blocked. A traffic signal at Broadway Avenue and Interstate 84 was out at 8:30 a.m.
But Sunday morning's relative calm was a far cry from Saturday's wind-whipped tempest. Nearly 20 emergency vehicles were called to the Boise Bench fires overnight along the Federal Way railroad tracks. Witnesses reported burning trees or power poles. Police kept several residents from entering a burned home.
Kim Binder, who lives in the 1100 block of Pico Street, said she was watching a movie when the fire broke out near her home. She said the power flickered, then she heard a popping noise. She went to the window.
"All of the sudden, there was this inferno," said Binder, who called 911, grabbed a couple things and ran out the door. She said embers had engulfed her house and front yard.
"I was running down the street screaming," Binder said.
A structure fire in the 5300 block of Chinden Boulevard closed the street about 10 p.m., forcing police to redirect Western Idaho Fair traffic. Boise firefighters were called to another house fire in the 500 block of West Sierra Drive, near West Rose Hill and South Latah streets, and to a grass fire on South Pleasant Valley Road that threatened a structure south of the Boise Airport.
"At one point, every unit in the city was dispatched to a fire call," Boise police and fire department spokeswoman Lynn Hightower said. She said Nampa police and Ada County Sheriff's deputies provided assistance to Boise police and fire.
Hightower said the trailer home on Chinden Boulevard was damaged, not destroyed. She said it appeared the residence is habitable, and the family was not displaced.
Meridian officials reported house fires on South Locust Grove Road and at Columbia and Meridian roads, and grass fires in Meridian and Kuna. The Kuna grass fire was at Kuna-Meridian Road at Hubbard Road at about 10 p.m.; structures were threatened, but they were able to quickly get it under control, a Kuna fire official said Sunday.
Canyon County dispatchers also reported power pole fires near Melba.
Storms with gusts of 70 mph blew through the Valley, and Idaho Power reported a number of power outages beginning at 9:15 p.m. Power was out to the Vista Avenue area, shutting down streetlights and traffic lights as crews raced to fires and Boise State football fans left a scrimmage game at Bronco Stadium.
Power also was reported out in south Downtown and the North End. About 1,600 customers lost power along Boise Avenue, and other outages affected customers on South Vermont, South Manitou, South Michigan, Garfield and Lincoln streets.
Rick Dorey, who lives on Madison Avenue in Boise's North End, had just gone to bed at 9:30 p.m. Saturday when he heard a huge crack and a pine tree crashed through his bedroom window.
"Now we have a pretty good sized tree laying over the house," Dorey said. "It pulled the roots right up out of the ground and our next door neighbor's fence and sprinkler system went with it."
Dorey said the tree had survived windstorms over the 27 years he and his wife, April, had lived in the home. Saturday's storm was too much, he said.
Now the couple's front door is blocked and they have to wait for a crew to remove the tree on Monday. It appears, though, his home sustained little damage.
"Thank God, no one was hurt," Dorey said.
The wind also played havoc at the Western Idaho Fair, where booths were reported blown over and traffic bottled up when winds closed the fair early. Several minor injuries were reported.
Early Sunday morning, Ada County Dispatch was receiving non-emergency calls about downed trees on houses and in driveways. At about 1 a.m., Hightower said dispatch had about two pages of reports of downed trees.
"Right now, unless there is an injury or a fire, it's not something the fire department can respond to," Hightower said. She said property owners should contact their insurance companies.
At midnight, nearly 40,000 customers in the Boise region were without power, according to Stephanie McCurdy, a spokeswoman for Idaho Power.
"It's a very, very large outage. Our crews are working as hard as they can to get people restored. No estimated time of restoration," McCurdy said.
The outlying areas, including Boise County, also had reports of trees down and fires.
A Boise County dispatcher said fires were reported at two trailer homes in Horseshoe Bend at about 9:48 p.m. Saturday.
A short time later, at 10:15 p.m., a fire was reported in Garden Valley -- at South Fork Road, near Alder Creek. Structures were threatened by the fire, and firefighters were working through the night, the Boise County dispatcher said. She said early reports were that a blown transformer sparked the fire.
A large microburst downed a large number of trees along Grimes Creek Road.
Lightning strikes south of Mountain Home sparked multiple fires, including the Black Sheep fire about 40 miles south of Mountain Home, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
The Black Sheep Fire had burned about 3,000 acres Saturday, and there was no estimate of containment or control. Many air resources were used before nightfall, BLM officials said.
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