In the summer of 1989, the Lowman Fire burned the area north and east of here from July 26 until August 30, consuming 72 square miles of forest and destroying 26 structures in the community of Lowman. More than 2,300 firefighters from state and federal agencies worked around the clock for almost a month to stop the fire, battling 100 foot flames and temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It took years to set the stage for this extraordinary event: mild lightning-caused fires occur every year in this area, with severe fires occurring every 13-16 years, but during the last 100 years this natural cycle was altered by humans putting out fires, allowing unnaturally abundant fuels to build up. While fuel levels were high, annual precipitation levels were low, and normal summer rains were replaced by dry lightning storms that, in July 1989, started 157 fires in the Boise National Forest, including 36 in just one day. Following the fire, dead trees were removed to discourage a concentrated insect invasion in the remaining injured and weakened trees, and these trees provided 125 million board feet of lumber for the local timber-based economy.