Gov Risch has declared that the entire state of Idaho is now in a State of Emergency. Not a federal thing, but a state thing. The emergency is over fires burning in Idaho, and this map will give you an idea of the extent. The Ola fire is at 51400 acres, to give you an idea and this page will provide more info.
The SoE declaration frees up $$ and certain assets, and could authorize activating the Idaho National Guard to fight the fires or to support firefighting activity with transportation assets such as trucks, helicopters or C130 aricraft. The cost to operate a blackhawk helicopter is around $4,000 per hour, for example, so a big fire season could cause our state budget surplus to go up in smoke.
The Idaho Department of Homeland Security, (fka Bureau of Disaster Services) will probably be tracking things as well, though it hasn't posted anything on the SoE declaration yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment