Hold your fire

COEUR d’ALENE — While most of the fire restrictions have been lifted in North Idaho, fire managers say conditions are still dry and some types of burning are still prohibited.

Some general fire restrictions are still in place on lands under state and local jurisdictions, where burning of yard waste, slash piles and other debris is still restricted.

“Recreational fires are still allowed,” said Jim Lyon, spokesman for Northern Lakes Fire Protection District. “You can have charcoal barbecues and warming fires, but you can’t burn yard waste.”

Lyon said small fires in a fit pit or ring with flames no higher than 2 or 3 feet are legal, but firefighters would like to see anyone burning anything to have a shovel and a water hose close by.

“The conditions are still pretty dry out there,” Lyon said. “It hasn’t got any safer in terms of grass and stuff like that.”

Lyon said early fall is this region’s typical fire season, but this year it started a few months early.

There are no more restrictions on federal lands, according to Jason Kirchner, a spokesman for the Panhandle National Forest.

“There are no restrictions on any Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management lands,” he said, echoing that fire season is still upon us.

Kirchner said the Grizzly Complex fire continued to grow over the weekend to nearly 20,000 acres.

“It is sending up a lot of smoke right now,” he said. “Most of it is burning internally, but it did spread about 200 acres.”

Kirchner said the fire spreading is due to the warm, dry conditions we’ve had for most of the summer.

“This is the reality of an El Nino year,” he said.

Shane O’Shea, from the Idaho Department of Lands, said while most burning is allowed on state lands, it is still prohibited to burn any debris at this point. That means no slash burning, yard waste or burn barrels.

O’Shea said most of the smoke in the skies over North Idaho is coming from the Grizzly Complex fire in Coeur d’Alene River Drainage, but also from grass field burning on the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation.

“They are burning about 200 acres every other day down there,” O’Shea said.

O’Shea said the burning restrictions will likely stay in effect until the region gets more significant moisture.