Castleford, Idaho (KMVT-TV) The Kinyon Road Fire is growing rapidly.

The fire southwest of Castleford is now estimated at 190,000 acres.

Monday, an advanced fire team was brought in to take command of the fire operations.

The Kinyon Road Fire is now the largest single fire in the U.S.

"Well, right now we're just trying to get a handle on this fire that's grown extremely large at this time. We're trying to get some containment established," said Steve Loucks, Incident Commander, BLM.

Thunderstorms and strong winds are playing a major roll in the fire's explosive growth.

"Thunderstorms play a huge roll in it. We get big downdraft winds every time the thunderstorms build in the afternoon. That's what really pushed the fire and blown it out each afternoon," said Chris Simonson, Fire Management Officer, Twin Falls BLM.
Two hundred and twenty people are working on the fire at this time.

But, fire operations will be turned over to a type two team by Tuesday morning.

"The team buys us just a lot of expertise and just allows us to pull some of our resources off and pull back a little bit. They're designed to manage a big incident like this," said Simonson.

Fire officials were hoping to have the fire under control Monday evening, but it could now be several days before that happens.

"You know if the weather holds out and cooperates for a day with the resources we have on scene we should be able to get a handle on it," said Chris Anthony, Incident Commander, BLM.

Monday, the fire jumped a containment line on the sailor creek road near the sailor creek training range for the air force, which is about fifteen or twenty miles west of where the majority of the fire was Sunday.

"The fire that's west of the Sailor Creek Road is our biggest concern right now. There's still quite a bit of activity in that area," said Simonson.

The area has a history of big fires.

Fire officials are estimating and planning for the fire to grow to 250,000 acres, but say it certainly could exceed that.