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At an emergency meeting on Tuesday, Nampa Mayor Darl Bruner and City Council members listened closely as John Spencer, director of water resources, laid out the situation on Garrity Boulevard, just south of Interstate 84.

That same afternoon, a 16-inch water main broke beneath the busy section of the arterial road on the eastern edge of the city, forcing road closures and major delays in the surrounding area.

“No one is out of water,” Spencer said, easing concerns about the state of water access to nearby commercial buildings and Saint Alphonsus Medical Center Nampa. “We were able to isolate the break to just this section underneath the interstate and where the break was itself.”

Spencer said the pressure from the bursting pipe punctured the asphalt above it, sending floating chunks of Garrity Boulevard to the surface of the sinkhole that formed there. The city had two tasks: have Bruner sign a resolution declaring an emergency that demands an immediate expenditure of public money and authorize work to begin.

Both action items received unanimous approval in 10 minutes.

An update from the city on Tuesday said Garrity Boulevard would be closed until Friday.

However, a spokesperson for Nampa told the Idaho Statesman on Thursday that the city will begin laying roughly 2,200 tons of asphalt — about 100 dump trucks’ worth — on Friday, and confirmed Garrity Boulevard will reopen only after the road is repaved and striped.

Since water pressure in the area dropped below 20 pounds per square inch, the city issued a public notice Wednesday morning in accordance with state law.

“Because positive pressure was maintained in the drinking water system, the city is not issuing a boil advisory or do-not-drink notice,” the notice said.

The repairs are expected to cost the city $1.5 million to $2 million, which will be drawn from the city’s fund balance. To use the balance, the repairs will be included in the September budget amendment.

Spencer told the council that repairing the water main requires coordination with the Idaho Department of Transportation.

“This is within ITD right of way, so we have to meet the ITD standards for the road rebuild and the compaction standards and the section standard,” Spencer said. “There’s some uncertainty about the full limits of the repair for the road.”

When Council President David Bills asked Spencer if ITD was aware of the situation, Spencer said the city and the department were already in lockstep thanks to an unexpected coincidence.

“ITD had a project scheduled for this weekend on Garrity Interchange, the westbound off-ramp, and since it was so close, our contractor had made themselves available to help with that repair,” said Anna McLean, a public information officer for ITD, who spoke to the Statesman on Thursday.

The pipe was installed in 2002, according to city records, and while there were no identified signs of wear, a spokesperson for the city told the Statesman that an investigation into the exact cause of the rupture is ongoing.

NAMPA, Idaho — The City of Nampa announced that Garrity Boulevard, south of I-84, has been fully reopened following emergency repairs to a 16-inch water main.

The break occurred at around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, closing all southbound lanes and related ramps on Garrity.

City leaders said that crews replaced approximately 550 feet of the 16-inch water main, which was originally installed in 2002.

Upon investigation, staff determined that the bedding, cover materials and practices used at the time do not meet current standards. Officials say that large boulders found right next to the pipe prevented proper bedding and alignment, contributing to the rupture.

WATCH | Garrity Boulevard reopens after water main break

The city warned that some customers may have noticed a temporary drop in water pressure, but officials believe normal domestic water service has been restored to all customers.

Leaders say that samples were collected from seven locations in the area impacted by the low pressure, confirming that all samples returned free of contaminants. However, officials note that the newly installed pipe will remain isolated from the rest of the system until sampling is complete.

After the new line was placed and pressure tested, officials say crews placed approximately 1,800 tons of asphalt.

The city thanked crews for their efforts to reopen the major roadway.

“I am proud of the coordinated, professional response by the entire city team and our partner agencies and contractors,” said Mayor Darl Bruner. “Their dedication allowed us to complete this complex repair safely and efficiently while protecting public health and minimizing disruption to the community.”

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On a good day, Assistant Fire Chief James Trumble said the Kuna Rural Fire District has six firefighters on call. From the station on the corner of Boise Street and North Linder Road, those six firefighters can operate two fire engines, which serve an area of approximately 110 square miles.

“That’s on a good day,” Trumble said. “If somebody takes a day off, gets sick, or gets injured, and I can’t get someone to come back on overtime, I have to shut down one of those engines.”

The station receives about four calls each day, which already has the fire district stretched to its limit, Trumble said. One in four calls the Kuna Fire District receives needs to be routed to fire departments in neighboring areas.

“Right now we don’t even have a ladder truck to respond to calls,” Trumble told the Idaho Statesman.

A solution may be at hand. Thanks to House Bill 208, which passed in 2025, fire districts in Idaho can consolidate into a single entity to pool resources and work together to cover service areas that may be understaffed. Kuna’s neighbors in the Nampa Fire Protection District may be the answer to Kuna Fire’s equipment and staffing problems. The two fire districts are considering consolidating into a single massive one, which would serve about 165,000 people across some 210 square miles.

Both districts are holding town halls to see what the public thinks, and firefighters say there’s an urgent need to address new growth.

Kuna’s population is exploding. It’s among the 15 fastest-growing cities in the nation, according the U.S. Census Bureau. The city’s population has ballooned by 30% over the last five years to more than 30,000 residents, and city officials aren’t expecting that growth to slow down.

Kuna Rural Fire District, which is an independent taxing district separate from the city of Kuna, operates with a budget of less than $6 million.

Eleven miles up the road, the Nampa Fire Protection District has a budget exceeding $39 million. That pays for 110 personnel working out of six fire stations, a training division and the administrative office. It also covers a fleet of response vehicles that includes four fire engines, a 100-foot aerial platform truck, a 75-foot ladder truck company, a squad truck, a Type 5 bush rig and a technical rescue team.

If the consolidation plan between the two fire districts is approved, the newly formed district would be better able to respond when the need arises.

“People might not understand that this will have an impact on homeowner’s insurance,” Trumble said. “Once you have an aerial fire truck accessible to your home, it can lower your homeowner’s insurance.”

In Idaho, properties more than 5 miles from a fire station can be assigned a high Public Protection Classification rating, according to the Idaho Surveying and Rating Bureau. This may increase premiums and could make it harder to secure standard policies or trigger coverage denials for people living in high-wildfire zones.

Letting ‘growth pay for growth’

Thanks to the passage of a bond in 2025, Kuna Rural Fire District is opening another fire station on West Kuna Road near Ten Mile Road in the fall, but there’s a snag: The district can’t afford to staff the new station without a bigger budget.

In Idaho, fire districts collect impact fees based on growth in the area they cover. These can help the district buy new equipment and build additional stations, but they can’t pay for new firefighters, Trumble said.

Once Station Two is built, Trumble said, Kuna Fire has eyes on building a third station on the east side of the district on Cloverdale Road just south of Kuna Mora Road. All three stations, he said, would expand coverage for Kuna Fire and bring insurance rates down for residents all over its service area, but requires the staffing resources of Nampa in order to operate.

“What we’re really trying to do is position ourselves so that growth will pay for growth,” Trumble said. “If we have a larger budget as a consolidated district, then that means we can actually collect that new growth funding that’s supposed to come to us, but can’t because of legislature restrictions.”

An 8% growth cap on all taxing districts including cities, counties, fire districts, ambulance districts and other non-school taxing districts was passed in 2021 under House Bill 389, but lawmakers decided earlier this year to allow ambulance and fire districts to raise their caps to 15% when they passed House Bill 959.

To make the merger work, the two districts would have to re-balance the levy rates on homeowners in both areas. Kuna residents would pay $20 more per $100,000 of property value in their taxes, while Nampa would see a decrease of $2 per $100,000, according to Nampa Fire Protection District Chief Kirk Carpenter.

“We’ve been talking about this type of collaboration since I was hired by Nampa Fire in 1998, so it’s exciting to see a path forward for bringing these two districts together to serve this community,” Carpenter said. “This isn’t the first time we’ve looked at this. In the past, it was considered much more as a takeover by Nampa, but as both departments grew over the years, we kept revisiting the idea as a capacity-driven move to save taxpayers money while we gain a new voice as a larger, united entity.”

The boards of commissioners for both districts still have to vote on whether to go ahead with the plan, and before they do, they’ll give the public several opportunities to weigh in.

Town hall meetings are scheduled in both districts on the proposed plan.

Meetings in Nampa are scheduled for 6-8 p.m., July 20, and Aug. 6, at the Nampa Fire Training Center at 300 W. Railroad St., Nampa.

Kuna is scheduled to host its meetings 6-8 p.m., July 15 and Aug. 5 at the Kuna Fire District Station One at 150 W. Boise St. in Kuna.

If 25% of electors in either district were to sign a petition challenging the plan, the public would need to vote, which would then require a simple majority for the consolidation to move forward, according to Idaho Code.

Residents with questions are encouraged to reach out to admin@nampafire.org or the Kuna Fire District through its website.

NAMPA, Idaho — More than 200 artists and makers will gather in Nampa this weekend as the Nampa Festival of the Arts returns to Lakeview Park for its 39th year.

The free, two-day event is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 8, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 9, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Organizers expect artisans from around the region to fill the park with handmade goods ranging from paintings and jewelry to metalwork, sculptures, fabric art and artisan foods.

In addition to vendor booths, the festival includes live entertainment, a food court, a children's art booth and free inflatables for kids.

One change this year is a new Hispanic art display at the Idaho Hispanic Community Center, located across the street from Lakeview Park at 315 Stampede Drive. The juried exhibit is sponsored by the College of Western Idaho, with artwork judged by students in the college's Art Department. Festival attendees will also be able to vote for a Community Choice Award.

Visitors looking for something to eat will have several options throughout the weekend. Scheduled food vendors include The BBQ Guy, Machu Picchu Peruvian, Idaho Crepe Company, Idaho Mini Donuts, Daisy's Italian Ice & Gelato, Mad Mac, Stella's Ice Cream, Tiki's Shaved Ice and several others.

Artists participating in the festival can also enter artwork into the Juried Fine Art Show, where pieces are eligible for awards including Champion, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Honorable Mention and People's Choice.

The Nampa Festival of the Arts began in 1986 and has become an annual event hosted by Nampa Parks and Recreation. This year's festival is expected to feature more than 200 artisan booths alongside food vendors and live entertainment throughout the weekend.

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