Crews Snuff Blanchard Fire Homes Were Threatened In Blaze, 109Th In Bonner County This Year

Firefighters from the Idaho Department of Lands and Spirit Lake Fire District mopped up a quarter-acre wildfire Friday that threatened homes Thursday night.

The human-caused fire was located in the Happy Valley Ranchettes subdivision of Blanchard, Idaho.

Fire danger remains high despite the onset of rain, said Department of Lands Fire Warden Nick Nichols.

Nichols said the wildfire would have spread rapidly if the Spirit Lake firefighters hadn’t arrived as quickly as they did.

“There were good fuels for it to spread,” he said. “Had they not knocked it down, the little drizzle of rain we had would not have put it out.”

The fire was in a stand of 15- to 20-year-old ponderosa pines, with limbs to the ground and a dry understory.

Although the neighborhood was not officially evacuated, some people evacuated themselves Thursday evening after reporting the fire, Nichols said.

Nichols said burning conditions are as dangerous, if not more so, than in October 1991, when the area was struck with devastating fires spread by windstorms.

“We’re still apt to have fires,” he said. “People might feel that because of the cloud cover and the drizzle, it might be safe. … It looks safe to burn, but I’m not lighting my pile at home.”

The Happy Valley fire was the 109th wildfire in Bonner County this year. Of those fires, 59 were caused by people. A total of 155 acres have burned this year.