Officials evacuated Silverwood Theme Park late Friday afternoon as a nearby wildfire moved close to the park.
The fire grew quickly to 50 acres and destroyed several small outbuildings, said Chris Way, chief of Kootenai County Search and Rescue.
But Way said firefighters believe they made good progress knocking down what has been named the Brunner Fire.
The Idaho Department of Lands is leading firefighting efforts. Kootenai County Fire and Rescue has sent personnel to assist.
Structures are threatened, said Mick Thomas, spokesman for the Idaho Department of Lands.
Level 3 evacuations have been ordered for the area of Clagstone Road to Ramsey Road, Brunner Road to Remington Road and Diagonal Road to Hunters Road. Everyone in the general area of Silverwood Theme Park was also told to be ready to evacuate at any time, according to Way.
The fire started on Brunner and jumped the road heading north where it continues to grow.
Way said the fire spread quickly, pushed by 10 mph winds, but the evening brought calmer winds that should make it easier to handle.
Jordan Carter, spokesman for Silverwood, said the theme park located at Athol, Idaho, evacuated about 8,000 people Friday afternoon, according to reports from KXLY.
Silverwood has told employees to be prepared to come to work today.
Way said several larger structures may be threatened. He could not elaborate if houses are included in that assessment.
He said two helicopters and at least six planes, including an Air Boss, were dumping water on the flames.
The fire disrupted what was supposed to be a relaxing day for Silverwood and created a logjam in the parking lot while the fire was active, according to Jennifer Spicer, a visitor from Zillah, Wash.
Spicer was in line for funnel cake with her family when they heard an announcement around 5 p.m. to immediately evacuate the theme park.
She said they made it to their car, but waited 1½ hours before they were able to drive out of the lot because of the traffic jam.
Travis Hots, an on-vacation fire chief from Snohomish County in western Washington, said he saw multiple aircraft quickly attacking black-smoke fire from the top of a rollercoaster with his family.
He said that he was impressed by the quick fire response from Idaho Department of Lands. Hots said it was smart to evacuate the park and that evacuation went smoothly.
“There was a lot of wind backing the fire,” Hots said. “It could have been a bad situation that got a whole lot worse if they didn’t make that call.”
Hots said that there was a delay in getting out of the parking lot, but that the parking lot was a relatively safe place to be considering there was little vegetation around it.
Fire officials said there are about 150 emergency vehicles that responded to the fire. There’s heavy traffic as officials close roads and ask people to avoid the area.
