Sunset fire, Crescent Road fire and Central Ferry fire: Inland Northwest blazes continue to burn as one levels 26 structures

Fires continue to burn throughout the Inland Northwest, including one that has now destroyed over two dozen structures.

Here’s a rundown of the blazes burning across the Spokane and North Idaho region.

Sunset fire:

The Sunset fire near Athol, Idaho, has grown to 2,702 acres and has destroyed 26 structures. Crews have made significant progress by constructing fire lines along the southwestern and southeastern edges of the fire, while aerial resources and firefighting boats have been focusing on the northern and eastern perimeters respectively.

“At this time, we do not have containment, but we’re making some very good progress on the southern end of the fire installing dozer line,” said Mary Fritz, the public information officer for the North Idaho Type 3 Incident Management Team.

Cooler weather and a Complex Incident Management Team due to arrive Saturday should help with suppression efforts, according to a news release from the Idaho Department of Lands.

“Go Now” evacuation orders are in place for residents living on Raven Road, Crosswhite Road, Little Blacktail Road, USFS 630 off Blacktail Road, Butler Creek and Butler Creek Spur. In addition, starting at Mirror Lake and going diagonally down to USFS 630, including Five Lakes Estates, Jupline Landing, the entirety of the Ponderosa neighborhood and everything south of Talache Road, residents are required to evacuate immediately.

So far, 250 people have been evacuated. Six single residences have been destroyed and 20 minor structures, like sheds and pole buildings, are no longer standing. There are 295 personnel working on combating the Sunset fire, with more expected in the coming days.

An evacuation center is open at the Cocolalla Bible Camp to provide shelter for residents fleeing from the flames. Ten stalls at the Bonner County Fairgrounds are available for livestock.

The cause of the fire remains unknown.

Crescent Road fire:

The Crescent Road fire, blazing about 7 miles north of Reardan, has burned just over 900 acres. The fire is scorching ground primarily between Crescent Road and Devil’s Gap Road at the northeast corner of Lincoln County and western edge of Spokane County. While the fire is zero percent contained, only one primary structure has been reported as destroyed. Damage to secondary structures, such as sheds and chicken coops, is currently unknown.

Anjel Tomayko, the public information for the Crescent Road fire, said all roads are open and that Level 3 evacuations are limited to just a couple of miles outside the perimeter of the fire. Level 3 evacuations require residents to leave immediately.

“We’ve been working on making the containment lines complete around the fire and using the fire lines that we’ve done over the last couple days that were more indirect to create direct fire line either by using dozers to move more tightly toward the fire’s edge or through small burnout operations.”

Tomayko said they were hopeful that by the end of the shift on Friday, crews would be done with that phase of fire suppression and move onto aggressive mop-up activities. A small 15-acre operation occurred Friday to ensure a tight line was created so that the fire couldn’t push past and spill over into unburned fuel.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. As of Friday night, 247 personnel were actively fighting the flames. There is not an evacuation center available.

Central Ferry fire:

The Central Ferry Fire is now 99 % contained and remains stagnant at 6,597 acres. As of Saturday morning, all resources were expected to be finished except for a single 20-person crew. That crew is expected to work only a half shift before returning home.

“The crews made good progress around the fire,” said Guy Gifford, the public information officer for the Central Ferry fire. “On the west and north portions of the fire, they gridded it several times to make sure there’s no heat there. The south side of the fire is the river, and the east side of the fire was where both of the remaining hot spots were, and the crews concentrated working on those areas (on Friday).”

Gifford said that because the Central Ferry fire was a grass fire, it burned out fairly quickly.

No structures were reported as damaged or destroyed. Additionally, no road closures or evacuation orders are in place.

The cause of the fire, revealed by the Washington State Patrol, was a motor home that caught on fire.

Gifford said final gridding of the fire is expected to be completed by noon on Saturday and firefighters should be able to return home by lunchtime.