Authorities ask for help to find cause of Cataldo's CCC Fire
IDL photo A firefighter douses a hot spot during mop up operations at the CCC Fire north of Cataldo. Roads have been opened in the area and fire investigators are asking the public for help finding the cause of the fire that burned 450 acres.
Although a fire that started earlier this month near Cataldo is being mopped up, investigators want help in determining what started the 450-acre blaze along the CCC Road north of town.
The conflagration that started near the well-traveled road on a hot August afternoon north of the Coeur d’Alene River burned through a forest before catching wind and gobbling up slash, trees and decked logs on an industrial logging site, sending logs valued in the tens of thousands of dollars into a spiral of smoke and ash.
“It started in the vicinity of the road,” said Jennifer Russell of the Idaho Department of Lands, which is responsible for fire protection in parts of western Shoshone County. “Ultimately, we had crews from all over the country and Canada fighting it.”
Although mop-up crews are continuing to seek out and quench hot spots in the canyon, where much of the earth is ash covered and the trees are blackened spicules of burned bark and dead limbs, what caused the fire has not been determined.
Russell was among Idaho Department of Lands personnel to post placards recently asking the public for help.
“We’re investigating the cause of the fire with the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office,” Russell said.
Calls left for the sheriff and the undersheriff Friday were not returned.
Russell said the fire started in the vicinity of the CCC Road and The Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes.
The CCC Road follows the north shore of the Coeur d’Alene River and parallels the bike trail before veering north and east into the national forest on the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District.
“It was not a lightning strike that started this fire,” Russell said. “At this point we would like public input.”
Temperatures popped into the 90s early this month and leveled out around 95 degrees on the day of the fire, according to the National Weather Service. Reports of the fire came in around noon Aug. 7, and a breeze fanned the fire through a stand of trees and eventually into an area that had been logged earlier, and where logs had been decked. With the help of rains and wildland fire crews, the blaze was eventually checked at 450 acres.
During the past few days, IDL used drones armed with a thermal camera to find hot spots along the former fire line and inside the burned area. Where heat was noted, mop up crews used water and hand tools to cull hot spots.
Firefighters will continue to monitor and assess threats, Russell said. One fire engine and personnel will patrol the area. In the meantime, road closures have been rescinded, she said.
Anyone with information about the cause of the CCC Fire is asked to call Bob Helmer at 208-666-8697, or the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office.