Smoke Alarm

COEUR d'ALENE — While Kootenai County has escaped wildfire season so far, it’s already feeling the effects of major fires to the west.

A look outside on Wednesday told you so.

Smoke from the 23,500-acre Spartan wildfire between Wenatchee and Quincy, Wash., blanketed Kootenai County and surrounding areas before Wednesday night's thunderstorm rolled in and cleared the air.

"Most of the smoke came from that area," said Shane O'Shea of the Idaho Department of Lands. "Local residents should not be concerned about any major fire in the immediate area."

O'Shea said it's not unusual for smoke from fires outside the Idaho Panhandle to make its way here.

"Three years ago we had smoke from Oregon, so traveling that far is very common," he said.

O'Shea said the fire danger in Kootenai County on Wednesday rose from low to moderate due to recent hot weather.

"Moderate for this time of year is still exceedingly low," O'Shea said. "The amount of precipitation we had in the spring pushed our fire season back. Historically, we're still well below our average for this time of year for any fire starts or fire danger.

"We're still fairly wet and other storms could push our fire danger even further into the season — if we even have one to speak of."

Destry Scheel, manager of the Coeur d'Alene Interagency Dispatch Center, which monitors fires in the area, said there were six tiny fires throughout North Idaho on Wednesday. The largest was less than an acre.

Scheel agrees the smoke seen in the air came from central Washington, not the small fires in the Panhandle.

There are no prescribed burns taking place in the area, so all of the smoke is from wildfires, said Almer Casile of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

Casile said as of 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday, the air quality in the area was moderate.

Other areas of the Northwest, including the Boise area, have had several fires to contend with.

"That area has a completely different fuel model type such as grass," O'Shea said. "It can be susceptible to fire an hour after it rains whereas our fuels are shrubs and brush (that retain moisture longer)."

Meanwhile, O'Shea said, some area wildland firefighters are battling blazes in other areas. The Idaho Panhandle Hotshots are in Utah, while IDL has crews in Arizona.

For more information about wildfires in the region, visit http://bit.ly/2siXfAO or http://bit.ly/2lPW0UO.