20 years later: 8th St. fire 'transforming'

BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) — Two menacing fires hit the foothills, 20 years apart, almost to the month.

The Table Rock Fire, July 2016 -- started by people with fireworks.

And the 8th Street Fire, August 1996 -- started by a police officer shooting tracer rounds at a training range.

The 8th Street Fire burned for 96 hours, its impact is still felt today.

Boise Fire Chief Dennis Doan recently revisited old battle lines he knew as a younger firefighter.

"This home right here is the one that burned," Doan said. "Burned up on this ridge, continued over to 1,500 acres and there were 200 homes we had to evacuate in this area."

Doan calls the 8th Street Fire a transforming event...for the Boise Fire Department, the Bureau of Land Management, and other agencies fighting flames on what is now known as the Wildland-Urban Interface: where homes sit on lands prone to wildfire.

The assault on the 1996 foothills inferno was launched with the best of intentions, Doan says, but completely lacked coordination.

One agency didn't know what the other was doing, and crews could not communicate through a confusion of radio channels.

That would not be the case in 2016.

"And on the Table Rock fire we were completely planned, completely coordinated, and everybody knew their job and who to report to and what the plan was," said Doan. "Where on the (8th Street Fire), there was a lot of people running around doing a lot of good work, but it wasn't organized. And we weren't even on the same channel."

Lessons learned from the 8th Street Fire brought unprecedented cooperation and inter-agency training.

"Rather than fighting the fire with a fire engine, traditional fire engine and hose, we were learning how to fight Wildland-Urban Interface fires," Doan said.

And 20 years later, more tools are in the toolbox.

"We have additional more engines than 20 years ago," said BLM spokesman Josh Renz. "As well as three more dozers, and multiple different aircraft that are available today that weren't available then."

Two days into the 8th Street Fire, concern mounted that the city was at risk from flash flooding should heavy rain fall on burned slopes.

In a flurry of activity, log terraces were built in the wounded foothills, trenches dug and straw bales put down, to slow any rushing water.

What many people know as the dog park near Reserve Street is actually a retaining pond, built in the immediate aftermath of the 8th Street Fire to catch any flood water that might threaten this part of town.

Over the years, there's been increasing awareness among ever-expanding subdivisions in the foothills of the need for defensible space around homes.

It's often called fire-wise landscaping.

Tom Burns gave us a tour of his Warm Springs-Mesa Neighborhood, nationally recognized for its fire-wise efforts.

The idea is to create fire breaks by thinning brush that can fuel a fire.

"We keep working at it, working at it and working at it," Burns said. "Because that's what you do in a fire-wise community. If you can't control the fuels, you can't control the burn."

Two menacing fires in the foothills, 20 years apart, and in between, a community's response has grown stronger.

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