Crews make progress containing 170-square-mile fire at Idaho National Laboratory nuclear site

Crews make progress on fast-growing SE Idaho fire

BOISE, Idaho — A wildfire that has torched 170 square miles of desert at the Idaho National Laboratory nuclear site is nearly surrounded by containment lines.

Laboratory officials say fire lines have been completed on the fire’s east side and all but about five miles of its western border.

That means the blaze is about 60 percent contained, after it expanded quickly Tuesday and Wednesday amid high winds. It has covered about one-fifth of the 890-square-mile lab site in southeastern Idaho.

Crews plan to work Thursday to replace a power pole at the lab’s Materials & Fuels Complex. The nuclear fuels research facility has been shuttered since the fire cut its electricity.

It’s unclear how the wildfire started. It ignited Tuesday near a road closed to the public but accessible to employees.