In brief: Dry conditions prompt ban on open burning

Fire agencies in Kootenai County have put a stop to open burning because of hot weather, dry conditions and high fire danger.

Open burning of any kind, including yard waste, is now prohibited. Use of permitted burn barrels is still allowed for now, but homeowners are asked to be vigilant in monitoring them and keep a water supply and firefighting tools on hand. Any spark or ember could ignite a grass fire, said Jim Lyon, spokesman for Kootenai County Fire & Rescue, which covers 113 square miles.

The Northern Lakes Fire District, covering the Rathdrum and Hayden areas, and the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department also have issued burn bans.

Campfires may still be used, but campers must keep the fires small and have water and a shovel on hand. Fires must be extinguished and cold to the touch before leaving the site, Lyon said.

For questions, call Kootenai County Fire & Rescue at (208) 676-8739. Outside the district, call the Idaho Department of Lands at (208) 769-1577 or your local fire department.

– From staff reports

BOISE

Field burning groups gather for dialogue

A full day of talks on field burning “went pretty well,” Idaho’s state agriculture director said Friday.

“I don’t know that we’re a whole lot further than we were, but they’re still at the table, so we’re hopeful,” Celia Gould said after the sessions at the state Department of Agriculture.

Growers who annually burn their fields met separately with a mediator, as did Safe Air For Everyone, a Sandpoint-based group that opposes field burning on public health grounds, and state agriculture and environmental quality officials. Then the whole group gathered together.

Field burning is prohibited in Idaho except on sovereign Indian reservations because of a federal court decision this year. The process to regain federal approval for field burning in Idaho could take three years.

“If we look toward the program in the future, we need to understand what that might look like, so that’s what we’re pursuing,” Gould said. “We just got together to see if there was any room for trying to find some common ground.”

– Betsy Z. Russell

Bonner County

Canadian fisherman drowns on Clark Fork

A Canadian fly fisherman on the Clark Fork River drowned Friday morning.

Edward Stover, about 35 and from Alberta, was fishing using a float tube. It appears the tube flipped over and Stover, strapped in with a safety belt, was unable to right himself, the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office said.

He was found in the river about 11:14 a.m. and removed minutes later. Stover was taken to Bonner General Hospital in Sandpoint, where he was pronounced dead.

Sheriff’s detectives are investigating.

– From staff reports