Ground fires tie up freeway through Coeur d'Alene
<p>Kootenai County Fire and Rescue firefighters work to extinguish hot spots from the remains of a grass fire along east bound Interstate 90 near milepost 11 on Thursday. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.</p>
<p>Bill Deruyter of Coeur d'Alene Fire Department sprays water on the remains of a grass fire along the shoulder of east bound Interstate 90 on Thursday afternoon. The cause of fire is still under investigation.</p>
Two small brush fires stalled lunch hour traffic today on eastbound Interstate 90 in Kootenai County.
The fires, reported just after noon, were located west of Exit 11 near Coeur d’Alene. One fire spanned about 50 yards east of Atlas Road, and the other spanned about 75 yards west of Atlas.
Fire crews responded quickly and had the flames contained and nearly extinguished by 12:50 p.m.
“We’re making sure there’s no smoke or fire left because smoke can be a problem on the highway and cause traffic or even accidents,” said Coeur d’Alene Fire Department’s Battalion Chief, Lee Holbrook.
Holbrook estimates the two fire departments used a total of 1,000 gallons of water to put the fire out.
Coeur d’Alene Fire Inspector and Investigator, Bobby Gonder, who was the first on the scene, couldn’t say for sure how the fires started. He said it was nearly impossible for it to have been one fire that jumped and turned into the other. The wind was blowing in the wrong direction and the weeds present would not have produced embers large enough to make it feasible.
Gonder said he wasn’t ruling out an intentional fire, but that was highly improbable.
“When rigs go by, dragging chains, they can kick up enough sparks [to start a fire], sometimes the chain links get hot enough they detach themselves,” he said. “Unless I find fireworks or cigarette butts lying around here, we probably won’t know what caused it.”