Their cup runneth over

COEUR d'ALENE — Thanks to the generosity of the public, the Coeur d’Alene Interagency Fire Cache is well supplied with water and sports drinks with electrolytes, and no additional donations are needed.

The wildfire season hit early this year and the cache found it difficult to find adequate supplies of water and sports drinks for the firefighters. Idaho Department of Lands set up a “Donations to the Fireline” webpage and the public quickly went to work providing the needed drinks.

“Our wildland firefighters have faced a season of unprecedented heat and fire conditions,” said Gov. Brad Little. “What makes Idaho great is its people and their willingness to step up and fill a need, in this case making sure our firefighters had the supplies they needed to withstand those conditions.”

Donations included 12.5 pallets and 63 cases of water, 1 pallet and 28 cases of sports drink, 31 boxes of Liquid IV, and a few other miscellaneous items to keep firefighters hydrated on the fireline. IDL also received the use of a refrigerated truck.

This is the first year IDL faced shortages and needed donations. It required developing a system internally to organize and receive the donations from citizens.