An evacuation from the Garden Creek Fire made for a memorable The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints youth camp for about 250 teenagers from the Draper, Utah, Eastridge Stake.

“We’ve been planning this camp for almost a year,” said Lori Newbold, president of Stake Young Women. “I know that God knew it would happen, but we didn’t. God is good. He takes care of us.”

As of Wednesday evening, the Garden Creek Fire burned approximately 5,418 acres and is about 80 percent contained, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes said in a Wednesday evening news release.

“We will keep the community informed of further developments,” said Incident Commander and Fort Hall Fire Chief Eric King.

The Tribal Office of Emergency Management extended its sincere thanks to all responding agencies for their continued efforts and coordination in battling the fire, which included firefighters from Fort Hall, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Blackfoot, Shelley-Firth, Bureau of Land Management, the Idaho Department of Lands, and air attack.

King on Tuesday evening said the blaze jumped the Blackfoot River but decreased winds, which remained calm on Wednesday, assisted firefighting efforts.

“Firefighting crews will remain on the fire for most of the rest of this week,” King said. “Resources on the fire will be mostly federal with municipal crews starting to clear out.”

Roger Cook, president of the Eastridge Stake said the sudden evacuation was not something he had thought was in the realm of possibilities.

“That was not part of my Bingo card,” he said. “We were teaching them about the sacrifices of the Mormon pioneers. We were doing our best to teach that and had to evacuate and leave quickly.”

Cook said the campers arrived Monday at Sellars Creek Ranch for a planned four-day stay for youths between the ages of 14 and 18, with a few 19- and 20-year-olds as youth leaders. The fire that started in the Lincoln Creek area in Fort Hall around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday changed the itinerary.

According to Cook, officials from the sheriff’s offices of Bingham County and Bonneville County wanted them to be safe.

“We didn’t have buses,” Cook said. “They were concerned about getting us out. We’re grateful that they did.”

When the decision to move them was made, Cook said everyone was about 45 minutes away from camp. Aiding their departure were the radios the leaders brought with them.

“Handcarts were left up there,” Cook said. “We told everyone to just grab essential personal items.”

Newbold added, “Campers did beyond well. They were resilient, positive and helpful. They were rolling with everything.

“It was our first time ever coming up here,” Newbold added. “We were so excited about the property.”

The sheriffs worked together to get 10 buses from Teton Stage Lines in Idaho Falls to transport all the campers to Thunder Ridge High School in Idaho Falls on Tuesday for overnight shelter, Cook said.

But their buses’ arrival eventually got delayed enough to give campers more time to leave.

“We were able to break camp completely,” Cook said. “I think we got it all down, except for some handcarts. We were evacuated from an abundance of caution.”

“I never saw the flames,” Cook said, “but we certainly saw the smoke. The fire was about 4 miles from where we were at the Sellars Creek Ranch.”

In addition to the youth group, Fort Hall residents living on Presto, Little Indian Canal and Wolverine roads were also evacuated because of the blaze.

Cook said Thunder Ridge proved to be an ill-suited destination.

“It became evident a high school wasn’t the best place for this group,” Cook said. “OK, we’ve redirected you to an LDS Church which turned out to be so perfect. We’ll open up the building so you can do whatever you need to do.”

That spot was an LDS Church building at 7555 N 55th E in Idaho Falls.

“We’re grateful to all the people of eastern Idaho,” Cook said.

“Campers learned a lot from that experience,” he said. “Life lessons that they will use to become better citizens.”

Added Cort Ashton, trek master, “They were troopers. We had some anxiousness, but they supported each other.”

Everyone boarded the scheduled buses for the return to Draper on Wednesday afternoon, one day earlier than planned due to the fire.