In brief: ISP identifies man killed in car fire

A man killed in a car fire last week in Post Falls was identified Tuesday as Justin W. Gardner, 26, of Rathdrum.

Gardner died Oct. 5 when his 1997 Subaru Legacy caught on fire at Seltice Way and Cedar Street about 5:06 a.m., according to the Idaho State Police.

Gardner was driving west on Seltice Way, near Commerce Loop, when he crashed and went through a construction zone, hitting cones and a construction barrel before coming to a stop about three-quarters of a mile away. Gardner was unable to get out of the car before the fire consumed it.

Gardner had left work about 3:30 a.m. that day after suffering some sort of diabetic reaction, ISP said.

Staff reports

State says air quality improved in Sandpoint

A concerted effort to improve Sandpoint’s air quality through restricting sales of noncertified wood stoves and other measures has paid off, with the community now meeting federal standards for fine particulates in the air, according to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

The DEQ is asking the federal government to lift the air quality “nonattainment” designation for the cities of Sandpoint, Kootenai and Ponderay enacted in 1987.

Mark Boyle, the DEQ’s regional air quality manager, said the improvements came from the hard work of a number of entities. The city of Sandpoint passed laws restricting sales of noncertified wood stoves and set up a system for curtailing wood stove use when air quality worsened. Open burning of yard debris was stopped during poor air conditions and Bonner County began chipping wood debris at its transfer station instead of burning it.

A public meeting on lifting the nonattainment designation will be from 4 to 5 p.m. Nov. 9 at the Sandpoint branch of the Bonner County Library, Room 102. For more information, visit www.deq.idaho.gov/public- comment-opportunities.

Becky Kramer