Officials say Idaho could face significant fire season

As they brace for the potential for significant wildfires this year, some state leaders are asking Idahoans to remember one spark is all it takes to start a wildfire. 

In interviews last week, Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Idaho Department of Lands Director Dustin Miller said state crews are hired and ready to mount an aggressive initial attack against wildfires and push for full suppression of those fires by fighting them until they are out.

But Little and Miller said Idahoans and visitors recreating outdoors can help too. 

“The biggest thing people can do is remember that most wildfires are preventable,” Miller said. “Keep campfires small, never leave them unattended, make sure they are dead out before you leave and avoid activities that can create sparks in dry vegetation – dragging trailer chairs, improperly discarding cigarette butts, parking a hot vehicle in tall, dry vegetation, et cetera. The biggest mistake people make is thinking a fire or spark isn’t a big deal — in Idaho’s conditions, one spark can quickly become a wildfire.” 

Several elements that could lead to an active, challenging fire season are already in place in Idaho and across the West. 

Drought.

A warm winter.

A historically low snowpack.

Forecasts for above-average temperatures and below-average precipitation through the summer, into early fall. 

“By August, our entire state is expected to have above normal significant fire potential,” Idaho State Forester Julia Lauch to the Idaho State Board of Land Commissioners on May 19. 

In an interview Wednesday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise, Little described how all Idahoans have a stake in fire season.

Multiple new fires reported in Idaho this month

Even though it is still spring and the hottest, driest months of the year are ahead, fire season is already active in Idaho. 

Last week, multiple homes burned and six law enforcement officers were injured during evacuation efforts after a brush fire started May 26 in Mountain Home, according to the Idaho Office of Emergency Management. State officials said there were no confirmed civilian casualties, although one emergency responder remained hospitalized Wednesday. The other five emergency responders had been treated and released.

The cause of that fire was under investigation, officials said, adding that the fire was 100% contained.

“Due to the fire’s intensity and size, several homes were quickly engulfed,” Idaho Office of Emergency Management officials wrote in a press release issued Wednesday. “Emergency crews faced difficulties verifying if all occupants had safely evacuated. There are no confirmed casualties at this point.”

Also last week, the Summit Creek Fire ignited about 11 miles south of Oakley and north of City of Rocks National Reserve on May 25. By the following day, the fire had grown to 1,500 acres, according to officials with the Sawtooth National Forest. After the fire was detected, crews deployed an air attack using a Type 1 helicopter and large air tankers. U.S. Forest Service officials said they also ordered additional resources to fight the fire, including hot shot crews.

Idaho officials say hiring firefighters is going well. But state budget concerns linger

Miller said the state has hired an experienced crew of state firefighters, which he considers a strength going into fire season. 

This year, Idaho will hire 260 firefighters and has zero permanent employee vacancies between the Idaho Department of Lands and two timber protection agencies, Lauch said. 

“We’ve done well with hiring this year, and we have a lot of returning firefighters,” Miller said. “We are really building our program to where we are bringing back more firefighters year after year – it hasn’t always been that way.”

While hiring an experienced firefighting crew and filling key engine captain and assistant fire warden positions is a strength for the state, the state’s finances may be a question mark. 

Idaho only has about $3 million in the state wildfire suppression fund, an Idaho Department of Lands spokesperson said. 

The Idaho Legislature is transferring another $30 million to the wildfire suppression fund on July 1, the first day of the 2027 fiscal year. 

But Little said that amount of money won’t be enough to pay all of the state’s the wildfire bills, which could reach $60 million or more in an active wildfire season. 

Without money in the account up front, the state will be forced to use a process called deficiency warrants to pay the wildfire bills. 

Little compared the deficiency warrant process to using a credit card to pay wildfire bills, and noted that the expenses will still come out of the state budget eventually even though they were not budgeted for.

“When you’re going out and bidding competitively against other states for contracts for aerial (resources) or whatever it is, it’s good that you show up with cash,” Little said. 

“Paying for anything with deficiency warrants is not my preferred way, because we know what our fixed costs are going to be,” Little said. 

Little said Idaho wants to be careful to avoid a situation the neighboring state of Oregon was in after not setting aside enough money to fight wildfires. 

In 2024, Oregon spent more than $350 million fighting wildfires after only setting aside $10 million, High Country News reported. That led to delays in contractors being paid and forced the state to call a special legislative session to come up with additional funding, partially through a new tax on nicotine pouches.

In 2025, Little pushed to add $60 million in one-time supplemental funding to the wildfire suppression fund, followed by an additional $40 million every year. However, the Idaho Legislature rejected the proposal and agreed to provide only $40 million one-time, the Sun previously reported. 

The 2026 legislative session was marked by across-the-board budget cuts for most state agencies and departments.

But Little told the Sun on May 27 that as a matter of policy, he wants to return to pre-funding the state’s wildfire suppression fund once the state budget stabilizes. 

“We don’t want to be in the situation where Oregon was, where you have to have a special session of the Legislature, so we will continue to work with the Legislature. We’re kind of lucky last year that it wasn’t a real bad fire year because we could have gone through all the money last year if we’d had a bad fire season.”

Federal government undergoing changes to its wildfire programs

In Idaho, where a wildfire starts plays a role in which agency responds and how the fire is attacked. 

On federal lands, such as U.S. Forest Service land, federal agencies coordinated by the National Interagency Fire Center, of NIFC, in Boise will likely take the lead.

On state land or state endowment land, state crews will likely fight the fire. 

Lauch, the Idaho state forester, said state officials are tracking significant organizational changes with the federal agencies that the state partners with to fight wildfires.

“The USDA Forest Service has elevated and reorganized its fire leadership, including a deputy chief for fire and aviation management, while the broader Forest Service reorganization is planned to move its headquarters to Salt Lake City, shifting towards a state-based leadership model and creating operation service centers intended to move the decisions and support closer to the field,” Lauch said May 19. 

“We’re not expecting any major shifts or changes during the core of the Western fire season,” Lauch added. “We are anticipating, or have been told, that we may see a state director for the Forest Service in Idaho around August or September, depending on how the conversations around the reorganization go.”

Additionally, the U.S. Department of the Interior created the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service in January.

“The bottom line there is that we have seen a lot of change and a lot of change to come in the future, but we are set for the season and we know who our contacts are with our federal partners,” Lauch said. 

In May, Oregon’s congressional Democrats raised questions about whether federal agencies would be understaffed and underprepared going into wildfire season due to budget cuts and layoffs that affected federal agencies including the U.S. Forest Service, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported.