Lightning starts wildfires, damages CdA business

Thursday’s early morning lightning show resulted in about a half dozen wildland fires that kept North Idaho firefighters busy during the day.

Lightning is also the presumed cause of a fire that damaged two buildings at Coeur d’Alene’s Industrial Park. The Coeur d’Alene Fire Department responded to Precision Wood Products on South Industrial Avenue about 1:30 a.m.

Witnesses from a neighboring business and nearby home said they saw lightning strike and then the two buildings go up in flames, Fire Chief Kenny Gabriel said.

“When we got there the flames were 30 feet high,” Gabriel said.

He described the large metal buildings as “shells” with scrap wood stacked high inside.

Firefighters stayed for several hours to make sure the fire didn’t rekindle in any of the wood piles that survived the blaze.

The Coeur d’Alene Interagency Dispatch reported about a half dozen fires in the forests throughout North Idaho that were likely caused by lightning.

Dispatcher Randy Thomas said there were a couple of fires in the Kellogg area, one along the St. Joe River and a couple others in the northernmost part of the state.

He said crews had the small fires under control.

“It’s fairly wet out, so they’re not going anywhere,” Thomas said.