Rancher describes anxious efforts to save cattle from raging fire
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A local rancher, who owns a cattle ranch in the Dubois area, describes the anxious moments Saturday evening as the massive Grassy Ridge Fire moved in and evacuations were ordered. Cows have already perished in the fire. The exact number is unknown and the race is on to save as many as possible:
The cowboys have gathered the cattle from the fields and are driving them down the highway. There are several hundred head from different ranches. They are driving the cattle and trying to save them. They were trying to save the cattle while their wives were at home trying to save their kids and evacuate their homes in the town of Dubois.
Hundreds of head of mother cows and baby calves are in front of the pickup trucks and the fire is behind them and headed their way.
The fire is particularly hot because it’s burning through some of the most lush sagebrush in Idaho. Big, tall, bushy dry sagebrush with leaves that are full of oil. It burns really fast and really hot.
We’re told the fire is moving up to 20 mph. That is much faster than the cattle can move. But they still have a little distance between them.
The cattle and baby calves have already traveled eight miles in extremely hot weather. There is no water. Cows are tired and slowing down. We do not know if they will be safe at the corrals. All of the neighbors are pitching in.
Right now it’s all about building a fire wall of plowed earth around the corrals to save the cattle. Every available piece of equipment is being used. Everyone who has a tractor and a disc is disking circles around the corrals. Another group of neighbors and farmers are creating a fire barrier around the town of Dubois by removing debris and surrounding fuel from around the city.
The goal is to get the cattle to the corrals before the fire reaches them. And then we hope that the fire barriers hold the fire away from the cattle.
It’s a race against time.