Detectives have identified four teenagers responsible for starting a grass fire with fireworks last week that threatened several homes just east of Eagle.
By the time firefighters controlled and contained the Goose Fire on Oct. 7 it burned over 400 acres and one outbuilding in the Horseshoe Bend, Seamans Gulch, and Hill roads neighborhood.
A combination of high winds, low humidity, and vegetation dried out by a long and hot summer created a real problem for firefighters, who were able to keep the blaze from destroying any homes.
Detectives determined the teens — one 15-year-old girl, one 15-year-old boy, and two 16-year-old boys — were setting off arial fireworks near the trails at the Eagle Sports Complex around 4:30 p.m. p.m. Oct. 6. A man in the area saw what the kids were doing and told them to stop and leave.
The teens then moved a short distance away to Goose Creek Road and lit off some more fireworks, which caught the grass on fire. The teens then took off without trying to put out the fire, which spread quickly.
The first calls into Ada County dispatch reporting the fire came in right before 5 p.m.
Eagle Fire was the first agency to respond. They were quickly joined by Bureau of Land Management, Boise, and Meridian fire crews as the flames spread towards homes in the Horseshoe Bend/W. Hill Road area. Winds then pushed the fire towards homes on Seamans Gulch Road.
At one point, fire crews had 30 trucks and a helicopter working on the blaze. Deputies asked residents of about a dozen homes to evacuate. Officials with the Red Cross and the Boise School District were preparing to open Riverglen Junior High School as an emergency shelter.
Fire crews were able to knock down the active fire by around 8:30 p.m. before it could consume any homes. Residents asked to leave were let back into the neighborhood a short time later.
Fire crews worked all night on hotspots and made sure the blaze didn’t fire back up.
It didn’t take long for reports to come in about the kids setting off fireworks in the area right before the fire ignited.
Detectives were able to identify them through tips from the public. They gathered evidence, talked to the four kids involved, and have sent the information to Ada County prosecutors, who will determine if criminal charges will be filed.
Idaho code 18-7004 – Firing timber or prairie lands – says that anyone who carelessly lights prairie land on fire and leaves without totally extinguishing the blaze is guilty of a misdemeanor.
We would like to thank everyone who provided information about the fire.