Wildfires aplenty

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

COEUR d'ALENE — With 21 fires in North Idaho in the past four days, wildfire season is heating up.

"We're on a trend that's putting things drier than average for this time of year," said Destry Scheel, manager for the U.S. Forest Service's Coeur d'Alene Interagency Dispatch Center. "It's a drier scenario than last summer."

Most of the fire activity has resulted from Friday's lightning storm, Scheel said. In some cases, it can take several days after a storm before smoke is seen and reported.

"We are chasing several small starts from the lightning that came through last weekend," said Shoshana Cooper, Forest Service spokeswoman.

Scheel said he hasn’t heard of any evacuations or threatened structures from the fires.

"But they're taking a high commitment of local resources," Scheel said.

The North Fork Hughes Fire in the Priest Lake Ranger District north of Hughes Meadows in the upper Hughes Creek drainage had grown to 60 acres as of Tuesday afternoon. The fire, believed to be caused by lightning, was located by firefighters on July 4.

Steep, rugged terrain has presented challenges for firefighters to access the blaze, according to the Forest Service.

Forest Service trail 312 and a portion of trail 512 (from Trail 311 junction to Trail 312 junction) are closed due to their proximity to the fire, said Kary Maddox, Forest Service spokeswoman.

"According to fire managers on the Priest Lake Ranger District, winds in the past couple days have had little impact on this fire," Maddox said.

Meanwhile, the 17-acre Mica Berry Fire south of Calder was contained on Tuesday afternoon.

The Beaver Creek Fire 4 miles south of Prichard that was reported on Monday was 3 acres on Tuesday afternoon. Cooper said five airplanes were tending to the fire along Beaver Creek Road on Tuesday.

"The Beaver Creek Fire does not appear to have been caused by lightning," said Scheel, declining to comment further.

Scheel said a crew was checking on smoke in the Rose Lake area on Tuesday afternoon, but a fire had not been confirmed.

While larger fires are being tended to in Washington and British Columbia, most of the fires in North Idaho so far have been an acre or less.

Scheel said the air tanker base at the Coeur d'Alene Airport has been busy this month with airplanes assisting with fires in North Idaho, western Montana, central Idaho and eastern Washington.

"At this point in the fire season, there's activity nearly every day at the tanker base," Scheel said.

Cooler temperatures with breezy conditions and a chance of showers and thunderstorms are predicted for tonight and Thursday.