PHOTOS: Henry’s Creek fire from the air
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IDAHO FALLS — We flew the EastIdahoNews.com helicopter Monday over the devastation left behind by the Henry’s Creek Fire.
Now that the smoke has cleared, we can take aerial images of the damage.
As we flew just hundreds of feet over the charred landscape left from the Henry’s Creek Fire, we saw multiple houses that firefighters had saved. On some properties, the flames came within feet of people’s homes.
However, many people lost farm equipment and buildings.
We frequently flew over areas where the fire abruptly stopped, laced by hundreds of feet of red fire retardant. Crews were still on scene in areas, putting out hot spots.
Hovering at 9,500 feet, we could see the burned sagebrush for miles.
Later, we stood among the black hills as we walked the ridge line above the Ririe Reservoir. Our fire guide, Capt. Jon Molbert with the Ammon Fire Department, warned us rattlesnakes were out because the fire had displaced them. Within moments we discovered one just feet away from where we were filming.
Back in the air, we flew past the incident command post, which was blanketed with tents for sleeping and food preparation.
Get Monday’s update on the fire and the road closures here.
