Several fires flare up in state

About a dozen fires were reported across North Idaho on Wednesday afternoon, including a large fire on both sides of Interstate 90 near the Veterans’ Memorial bridge. The midafternoon blaze forced Idaho State Police to limit traffic temporarily to a single lane in both directions as fire crews fought the flames.

A helicopter was brought in to dump buckets of lake water on the fire. An ISP dispatcher said it wasn’t immediately clear what caused that fire, which was contained by late afternoon.

Two other small fires were also reported along I-90 near Cataldo on Wednesday afternoon, according to John Ryan, with the Coeur d’Alene Interagency Dispatch Center. Firefighters from Cataldo were also busy responding to at least two fires up Coeur d’Alene River Road.

Three fires had been reported between Worley and St. Maries. At least two others were sparked north of Athol, Ryan said.

Several of the fires were likely ignited days ago by a lightning storm, but they stayed relatively quiet until the dry weather and heat provided prime burning conditions, Ryan said.

All the fires across North Idaho were contained by late afternoon and none threatened any buildings, Ryan said.

Firefighters were on a high state of alert across the region because of dry weather and high temperatures.

Fire crews from three states are monitoring the dying embers of the Dry Creek fire in north-central Idaho that has burned about 5 square miles of summer cattle range. The fire started Friday at the confluence of Idaho’s Snake and Salmon rivers and has burned to within three miles of three ranching cabins used by cowboys who herd hundreds of cattle on the mountain pastures every summer, said Ted Pettis, a U.S. Forest Service fire information officer. While there was little smoke visible, officials planned to keep nearly 250 firefighters from Idaho, Oregon and Montana at the fire for fear some fuel is smoldering and could erupt again.

“People expect that there’s probably some fire in the lichen under the rocks, so it could pop up again if conditions are right,” Pettis said, calling the blaze about 50 percent contained.

With temperatures high and conditions dry, Pettis said crews across the region are anxious.

“We’re just a lightning storm away from disaster,” he said.

Western states that had fires larger than 100 acres burning Wednesday included Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming.

National Interagency Fire Center officials in Boise warned people in the region to use extra caution.

“Be sure to have spark arresters on equipment and vehicles like chain saws, motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles,” the center said in its Wednesday fire report. “Modern exhaust systems can easily ignite vegetation, so drive and park in designated areas and avoid dry brush and grass.”

Firefighters and police were also on alert because of the Fourth of July holiday and accompanying danger because of fireworks.

In eastern Idaho, 30 firefighters, a bulldozer, a helicopter and a tanker were dispatched Wednesday to fight a 400-acre blaze near the St. Anthony Sand Dunes, a popular all-terrain vehicle park. The Eastern Idaho Interagency Fire Center in Idaho Falls said officials were still trying to determine the cause of the blaze.

“Currently no structures are threatened,” said fire spokeswoman Joanna Wilson.

And 13 miles south of Mountain Home in southwestern Idaho, Bureau of Land Management crews put out a human-caused blaze near the Snake River, but not before it burned about a square mile of sagebrush and grass.

The Birch fire kept busy four engines, bulldozers and several water tenders, as well as a helicopter that filled its bucket in the nearby Snake River, said BLM fire spokeswoman Jessica Gardetto. That blaze was declared contained Wednesday, she said.

In the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in central Idaho’s Payette National Forest, the remote Tag fire in a steep draw near the Salmon River was being allowed to burn. The fire is 44 miles northeast of Yellowpine and is burning in grass and brush.