Portion of I-84 closed to due to growing wildfire
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BURLEY — A 50-mile stretch of Interstate 84 closed Tuesday in both directions between the Interstate 86 junction and the Utah border due to a wildfire burning in southeastern Cassia and southwestern Oneida counties.
The Milemarker 271 fire started Monday evening and grew to more than 2,500 acres by Tuesday morning, according to local U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Kelsey Brizendine.
BLM, U.S. Forest Service and local firefighters are all battling the blaze, which is expanding in multiple directions, particularly south toward Utah.
At least part of the fire has jumped into the median along I-84, which led to the road closure.
All I-84 traffic should detour to I-15 in eastern Idaho or to U.S. 93 south from Twin Falls to I-80 at Wells, Nevada, according to an Idaho Transportation Department news release.
There is no estimated time for the road to reopen and no estimate on containment of the blaze.
“This is a pretty active fire right now due to the weather conditions and it’s burning very aggressively,” Brizendine said.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.
For information about road conditions motorists are encouraged to go to 511.idaho.gov for updated information.
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