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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Wind, lightning warnings increase fire worries

"It's a tough piece of ground," said Randy Lee of Priest Lake Fire Management for Idaho Department of Lands about the Cape Horn fire in Bayview on Tuesday, July 7, 2015. (Kathy Plonka / The Spokesman-Review)
Staff Reports
With three active wildfires burning in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, fire officials braced for high winds and potential thunderstorms into this evening. “The meteorologist is cautioning us about a cold front with 30 mph gusts from time to time,” said Washington Incident Management public information officer Jim Hyland. “The aircraft are working really hard to get some good control lines.” Thunderstorms are expected over northeastern Washington and the Idaho Panhandle. The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning, meaning there is “extreme fire growth potential.” The Cape Horn Fire continues to burn near the resort town of Bayview on the southern end of Lake Pend Oreille. The fire, first reported Sunday afternoon, has burned about 2,000 acres and destroyed six homes and two other structures. There are 150 firefighters at the scene. There has been no significant change in the fire’s size or activity since Monday, said Jeremy Olson, public information officer for the federal team that took over management of the Cape Horn fire Monday. Idaho Gov. Butch Otter declared Kootenai and Bonner counties a disaster emergency area Monday as well. Although the fire has not been contained, fire lines have been established around much of it. Officials are waiting to see if those lines hold before they determine the fire’s containment level. Ralph Jones, owner of a coffee shop in Bayview, said the fire is still burning about 500 yards above his shop. The line seems to be holding despite winds from the north to the southwest. “We don’t feel threatened,” Jones said. “Certainly guarded.” A community meeting is scheduled for tonight at 8 in the Bayview Community Center. Any resident or landowner directly or indirectly affected by the Cape Horn Fire is invited to attend. Closer to Spokane, the Little Spokane Fire started Monday around 5 p.m. near the Painted Rocks trailhead in Riverside State Park. The fire, which had multiple start points, is now around 60 acres in size. Seventeen homes northwest of the fire are threatened, Hyland said. A non-mandatory Level 2 evacuation was issued today. The priority is to contain the fire before winds and possible lightning strikes this evening, Hyland said. Heavy tankers, helicopters and lighter planes are dropping water and retardant, Hyland said. The fire is being monitored as a branch of the 231 Fire, which covers 930 acres 7 miles south of Springdale. Planes and fire crews are monitoring both fires simultaneously. “It’s really still in the initial attack phase,” Hyland said. The 231 Fire is about 60 percent contained, Hyland said. It started Friday afternoon and destroyed one home and four outbuildings, he said. “Firefighters are really confident that they have a good handle on that one,” he said. At the Department of Natural Resources Dispatch Center in Olympia, staff was tracking the progress of the Little Spokane fire as well as others around the state. Aircraft from Moses Lake made roundtrip flights to dump fire retardant on the blaze while a helicopter and three Fire Boss airplanes dumped water from nearby rivers. Equipped with pontoon floats, the AT- 802F Fire Boss air tankers were landing on the Spokane River where they could gather up to 700 gallons of water, make the short flight to the fire and return for another load. “It cycles quickly,” Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark said of the aircraft. “But it requires a very competent pilot.” One of the planes is on loan from the state of Minnesota, which currently is experiencing a wetter than normal summer and doesn’t need the plane, he said. “As long as it rains back there, we’re good out here.” The dispatch center was tracking lightning strikes and weather reports, and Goldmark was anxious to suppress the Little Spokane fire as much as possible before the evening, when forecasts called for winds out of the northwest to pick up. That could push cinders and sparks to the southeast and closer to suburban Spokane.