Hot, hazy days should give way with rain forecast

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

COEUR d'ALENE — Patti Johnson wasn't about to let Tuesday's hazy sky spoil her afternoon at the lake.

"It's August, so that's expected," the Rathdrum woman said of the smoke across Lake Coeur d'Alene. "Until I'm told to stay indoors, I'm going to enjoy the sun. Fall comes way too early."

Thanks to fires in the region, air quality throughout Kootenai County on Tuesday afternoon was "moderate," meaning there was a moderate health concern for a small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.

Shawn Sweetapple, the regional air quality manager for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, said the air quality reached "unhealthy for sensitive groups" for a few hours early Tuesday morning before it improved later in the day under a high pressure system.

"Moderate shouldn't make much of a difference if you're healthy," Sweetapple said. "But, if you start to feel the effects, you may want to postpone your workouts until it improves."

Sweetapple said the smoke is from a combination of fires in Idaho and Washington.

Randy Mann, Press meteorologist, said today and Thursday will be much of the same before wind and rain should clear the air on Friday.

High daytime temperatures are expected to reach the mid-90s over the next two days before the 80s on Friday and Saturday and the 70s on Sunday.

"We'll see a big cool down after this heat wave," Mann said.

On the fire front, Idaho Department of Lands crews, with the assistance of local rural fire departments, worked through Monday night to secure a fire line around the 140-acre Bandy Fire near Spirit Lake.

The fire burned primarily grass. No structures were damaged. Crews began mop-up activities on Tuesday and the fire was 100 percent contained.

The fire started on Monday about three-fourths of a mile east of Bandy Road in a remote area on a ranch. The cause is under investigation.

The Lick Creek Fire 8 miles southwest of Avery in the St. Joe Ranger District of the Idaho Panhandle National Forest is about 200 acres. It’s burning mostly logging slash and timber, and was 9 percent contained on Tuesday.

More than 120 responders are assigned to the fire.

The cause of the fire, which was discovered on Friday, is under investigation.

There have been several recent smaller fires on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests, primarily associated with lightning strikes. However, early detection and suppression, coupled with an average fire season, have kept the fires small.

The cause of the 3.5-acre Mosquito Creek Fire in the headwaters of the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River on the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District is under investigation.

Avista Utilities is making temporary power line operation changes to mitigate wildfire risk.

"In most cases, under normal conditions, lines located in rural and/or forested areas are re-energized automatically," an Avista press release states. "However, during the current dry weather conditions, Avista's line personnel will physically patrol an outage area before a line is placed back into service. This temporary change in operations could lead to longer outage times."

Avista will return power line operations to normal as weather permits.