Weather Compounds Fire Woes Crews Moved From Older Blazes To Where Lightning Hit

Fire managers in the Sandpoint Ranger District diverted some crews off existing fires Friday to tackle new ones in other districts.

A Thursday afternoon thunderstorm brought lightning to North Idaho and Northwest Montana, but not much rain.

The Sandpoint Ranger District sent teams to Bonners Ferry and Priest Lake to battle new starts, even as Sandpoint area fires grew Friday.

“It’s sort of a balancing act you do, especially when you have a finite source of people,” said Greg Hetzler, Sandpoint District fire information officer.

Hetzler was concerned the new starts would leave his district strapped for personnel.

“We’re right on the edge of being able to hold those (fires) in check,” he said.

More than 270 people are working fires in Bonner and Boundary counties. The largest fire continues to be the Northwest Peak fire, estimated to be 1,480 acres, in Boundary County near the Canadian border.

Two 20-person crews from Alaska are building a fire line by hand along its northwest edge, while two helicopters drop water.

About 11 fires were spotted in the Priest Lake area as a result of the storm. One small fire above the Bonner County Fairgrounds, near Sandpoint, was spotted just as the storm passed through Thursday afternoon.

The Forest Service received more than 60 calls reporting the fire. It was doused by buckets of lake water dropped by helicopter, and a three-person crew mopped it up Friday.

“We really appreciate all the people who called in to let us know the fire was there,” Hetzler said.

The Panhandle National Forest is a candle compared to the flaming Kootenai National Forest next door in Montana.

More than 40,000 acres are burning between Yaak, Mont., and Noxon, Mont. About 84 people living along Pinkham Creek near Eureka, Mont., were evacuated last week. They were able to return home this week, but are still on notice for another possible evacuation, said Bill Moran, fire information officer for the Kootenai National Forest.

The livestock from Pinkham Creek are being housed temporarily at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds.

Level 4 restrictions are in effect in northwest Montana, which prohibits huckleberry picking, driving, hiking and logging on public or private land.

About 32,000 people are working fires there.

Despite all the fires, “not one single structure, so far, that we know of, has been burned,” Moran said. “Not so much as a chicken coop.”

Fire officials are concerned about the 675-acre Grambauer fire, which is burning on steep mountainsides on the north end of the Cabinet Wilderness between Troy and Libby.

“Thankfully, for 10 miles there are no residences,” Moran said. “But with a wind event, that 10 miles could be taken care of in three or four hours.”

Winds are expected to increase this weekend.

“We are concerned about the cold front that’s going to come through late Saturday and Sunday,” Hetzler said. “Cold front passages are always a red flag warning for us. A lot of times they’re associated with strong winds and little precipitation.”