Environment

Boise fire kills one -hundreds displaced from homes

by poolparty | August 26, 2008 at 11:35 am

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The Mayor of Boise has made a declaration of disaster for the city of Boise. A deadly fire that started Monday evening has already claimed the life of one victim. It has destroyed 10 homes, and damaged several. Hundreds of people have been displaced. If you have any photos or updates to this fire, please contribute to this story.

Following one of the worst fires the city of Boise has experienced in recent memory, Boise Mayor Dave Bieter has made a declaration of disaster for the city of Boise.

More than 225 fire fighters and emergency personnel responded to the scene throughout the course of the fire, and unit from all over the valley, including Nampa and Caldwell, helped respond to the disaster.

Officials have confirmed that a body found in one of the destroyed homes is Boise State University Linguistics professor Mary Ellen Ryder.

Although initially no injuries had been reported several hours into the devastating subdivision fire, firefighters confirmed that eventually they found Ryder's body inside a burnt home in the Columbia Village area of southeast Boise.

Boise Police, Boise Fire and BLM investigators are still trying to determine what caused the fire. When questioned about whether a power pole knocked down in the storm could have started the fire, officials said they were not able to confirm that.

The chief did not have a solid estimate of the cost of the damage as of early Tuesday morning. "At least 20 homes between $200-300,000 each, plus all the other cars and boats," he said.

Early Tuesday morning fire crews were still on scene, "cleaning up and mopping up and making sure there are no more flareups," he said.

Nine homes were destroyed by a grass fire that began around 7 p.m. tonight in southeast Boise according to the Boise Police Department. Nine additional homes were damaged and at least 50 were evacuated.

"The winds were really strong, and for a time there we weren't sure if the fire would spread to entire neighborhoods, because it was so explosive. Homes seemed to literally explode in fire" said Boise State Professor of Photography Larry McNeil who witnessed the beginning of the blaze.

"Our fire departments earned a huge thank you for stopping a potentially worse disaster. They are the best. Our condolences go out to people who lost their houses, that was really awful to witness."