We reported earlier this week that a wildfire in southern Idaho posed a threat to the pilot training range used by Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, but the base’s fire chief, Cliff Lewis, says there’s currently no threat to the training ranges from the still-burning fire. SrA. Megan Lyon reports that two large wildfires caused by lightning strikes combined into one massive fire, burning more than 572,000 square miles in southern Idaho. Lewis noted that the wildfire never came closer than 35 miles of the main base, but it did come within five miles of the Juniper Butte training range. Base aircraft are flying above 10,000 feet in some areas of the training airspace to stay out of the way of firefighting aircraft.
Three of four congressional committees with influence over defense policy have voted to change the official name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War—but final approval of the Pentagon rebrand is months away and not yet assured.