By Laura Zuckerman
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Residents in Pocatello in southeastern Idaho returned home on Tuesday afternoon after a fast-moving wildfire destroyed a house and prompted the evacuation of 44 others, officials said.
The fire broke out on Monday afternoon in a neighborhood in the foothills south of Pocatello, where high winds drove flames onto public lands in terrain so steep and rocky that firefighters have been forced to hike in.
Dozens of people were ordered to leave their homes beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. By Tuesday, 100 local, state and federal firefighters were battling a blaze estimated at more than 1,300 acres.
Investigators said it was likely started by two adolescents "playing with matches" not far from a drive-in theater on the outskirts of Pocatello.
"The kids were playing with matches, the wind was blowing heavy - and it took off with it," said Bannock County Sheriff's Office Captain Kevin Fonnesbeck.
No damage estimates were immediately available for the fire that claimed a house and adjacent barn and disabled a city radio tower.
"The home was a complete loss; it's very difficult for that family," said Sarah Wheeler, fire information officer with the U. S. Bureau of Land Management.
In southwestern Idaho, the agency was coordinating the attack on 13 wildfires sparked since Sunday by lightning and driven by strong winds.
An estimated 550 firefighters were assigned to the blazes, which have burned 95,000 acres of mostly public lands, said Mallory Eils, fire information officer for a BLM district based in Boise.
A 3,000-acre fire near the Mountain Home Air Force Base southeast of Boise led on Monday night to a brief shut down of flight operations and evacuation of personnel from buildings on the northwest corner of the base, according to a statement by the U.S. Air Force.
(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Peter Bohan)
