Crews responded to a call of a wildfire near Belleuve around 2:20 p.m. Wednesday.
According to emergency communications monitored by the Idaho Mountain Express, the fire appeared to be burning through cottonwood stands and downed timber along the Big Wood River at Eccles Flying Hat Ranch.
Coordinates relayed to the Bureau of Land Management’s wildfire incident server indicated the fire was burning about a half-mile west of State Highway 75 on the east side of the river. Two onlookers also reported seeing flames on the east side of Big Wood, according to scanner traffic.
By 2:45 p.m., firefighters had called in air support to attack the fire. At the time, its plume of smoke was visible from State Highway 75 near Flying Hat Ranch.
Multiple agencies were mobilized in response, according to scanner traffic. Local departments were coordinating at the Sun Valley Garden Center off State Highway 75 as they identified the location of the fire and scouted access routes, scanner traffic indicated.
Around 3 p.m., a Bureau of Land Management spokesman said federal crews were responding to a “fresh start” in the area, which is adjacent to BLM land. No other information was available at the time, he said.
At 3:15 p.m., authorities still had not estimated the extent of the fire.
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