Castleford, Idaho (KMVT-TV) The Kinyon Road Fire started Saturday afternoon eight miles northwest of Castleford. Since then, it's burned over 216 thousand acres.

A total of 300 people were battling the blaze at its peak. The price tag for this fire alone? Just over a million dollars.

Jerry Rohnert, Fire Information Officer for the Boise Bureau of Land Management, says, "That includes the cost of everything, supplies, retardant drops, and land use agreements with the property owners."

For the last ten or 15 years, the Idaho State Legislature has set aside five million dollars a year to pay for the cost of fighting wildfires. Then after fire season's over, the State of Idaho pays for the fires that burned state lands.

Rep. Stephen Hartgen, (R) Idaho, says, "This last year was about $6 million. We don't know what it's going to be this coming year, the fires are still out there, probably more. The highest we ever had several years ago was almost $20 million."

Hartgen says that Idaho pays off its fire bill every year. But he says if wildfires burn federal land, those costs are added to the federal deficit. Rohnert says the Kinyon Road Fire should be completely out by this Saturday, a week after it started.

Rohnert says, "We're trying to do it for the least amount of dollars. But when you have aircraft coming in with retardant, that's where the cost goes up."

July 11, 2012.