ID Firefighters Battle Warehouse Blaze

The Boise Fire Department responded to a major fire at the Idaho Youth Ranch warehouse on Irving Street on the Boise Bench on Monday afternoon, and the dozens of people at the facility all escaped without injuries, a fire official said.

The fire began in or near one warehouse and was reported at 1:46 p.m., according to PulsePoint.

The Boise Fire Department declared it a three-alarm structure fire, so triple the amount of trucks, responders and equipment were called in than for a normal fire. Seven fire engines and three ladder trucks responded, and three command officers were at the scene, in addition to several ambulances and rehabilitation units.

A tweet from the Boise Fire Department said crews began fighting the “large structure fire” from the outside because of “advanced fire conditions.” An hour later, by about 3 p.m., crews were inside both the affected warehouse and an adjacent warehouse to make sure the blaze didn’t spread, according to Boise Fire Division Chief Aaron Hummel.

Multiple large propane tanks used for commercial generators were located on an adjacent property, and Hummel said at a news conference that was the first thing firefighters secured when they arrived.

“Their first priority was taking care of the liquefied petroleum gas tanks ... making sure that those didn’t ignite,” he said. “Certainly if the fire came down further this direction, we’d be a little bit concerned about any kind of vapors that got ignited.”

Hummel said there were around 50 people in the warehouse at the time of the fire. He said he could not comment on the exact cause of the blaze yet; the Boise Police Department and the Fire Prevention Bureau were investigating.

Idaho Youth Ranch CEO Scott Curtis told the Idaho Statesman that he believes the fire began just outside the warehouses.

“We have large cardboard containers where all of our donated goods are brought to the campus,” Curtis said. “My understanding is that’s where the fire happened.”

Curtis said he did not anticipate the fire would affect Idaho Youth Ranch’s social services or shelter work, but he was concerned about the financial impact on the nonprofit.

”We have a very important mission for the youth and the families of Idaho, and the support of that mission is critical,” Curtis said. “We are concerned because this interrupts our social enterprise business.”

The fire was expected to burn through the night and possibly into tomorrow morning, and Hummel said the Boise Fire Department’s focus was on keeping the blaze contained to just one warehouse — which nearly had collapsed.

The fire department asked drivers to avoid the area, which is between Orchard Street and Curtis Road on Irving. That location of the Idaho Youth Ranch also features an outlet store.

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