Rice Ridge Fire Price Tag Nears $24 Million, Over 1,000 Addresses Evacuated
An infrared flight on Tuesday, August 29, shows that the Rice Ridge Fire near Seeley Lake has burned through over 32,000 acres. According to Fire Information officer Sara Rouse, it has also displaced people from over 1,000 homes. The bad news continues as a red flag warning rolls out this afternoon.
"The evacuation order that was issued Monday evening affected 1,028 different address points," Rouse said. "There is a red flag warning that is going to be in effect until 9:00 p.m. Thursday, with that we are expecting some extremely low humidity as well as some variable wind patterns associated with some thunder cells that will be moving through the area."
Rouse describes the area where the fire is closest to homes.
"It depends on which area of the fire you're at, but the fire is no less than half a mile from that northern end of the section with the airport in it, it is getting fairly close," Rouse said. "There are folks working that line and they have been able to hold it well, there wasn't much growth there at all Tuesday evening."
All of these firefighting efforts have racked up a substantial price tag. As of Wednesday, August 30, the cost of fighting the Rice Ridge fire was up to 23.5 million dollars.