Palmer holds at about 13,500 acres while Spokane gets break from small fires

The fast-growing Palmer fire that crews feared would swell Friday has steadied at about 13,500 acres, said Isabelle Hoygaard Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman.

The uptick in acreage from 11,190 acres Thursday represents a more accurate mapping rather than spread, Hoygaard said.

“Everything is holding out there,” Hoygaard said. “The fire really hasn’t significantly moved from our containment lines.”

The blaze is up from 0% to 11% containment today, she said. Firefighters also made significant progress Thursday working with burnout operations, which remove the unburned fuel between the containment line and the fire edge to reduce spread, according to Friday’s incident report.

A structures group assigned to the fire has made progress going to houses, collecting addresses and checking for damage, Hoygaard said. They will have a complete report Saturday.

Several small fires started in Spokane throughout the week, all under an acre in size. All but one was out by Friday. A quarter-acre burn in Peoples Park, started by “human cause,” is contained, according to a Department of Natural Resources update.

North Idaho didn’t see major fires spark up Friday as of 5 p.m. The Chief Timothy Fire near Lewiston has remained at 100% containment and 1,400 acres, according to the latest incident report.