Fire danger rating poised to jump

COEUR d’ALENE — The potential for catastrophic wildfires in North Idaho is rising.

The fire danger rating for the Mica Supervisory Area, which includes most of Kootenai County, will move to “extreme” Monday.

The jump comes just days after the district moved to a “very high” rating.

“It’s bad out there,” said Coeur d’Alene fire inspector Craig Etherton.

Fire danger ratings measure the potential over a large area for fires to ignite, spread and require fire suppression action.

The rating is calculated by applying observations of fuel and weather conditions, as well as topographic factors, to a set of equations.

Higher ratings indicate that fires ignite easily. Any fires that start will likely be fast-moving and hard to control.

Residents can expect further burn restrictions when the rating increases.

Burn barrels and burning yard waste debris are currently prohibited and burn permits are closed. Recreational fires are permitted for the time being.

Etherton said current weather conditions would be more typical for August, not early July.

“Mother Nature is not helping us out,” he said.

In response to the rating change, Kootenai Electric Cooperative announced in a Facebook post Thursday that it will modify its system to turn off automatic re-energization when a fault occurs.

Faults can be caused by lightning, winds, trees or branches on lines, vehicles colliding with poles and more.

If a fault occurs, KEC crews will patrol the line prior to restoring power.

This is a normal part of KEC’s wildfire mitigation plan, put in place during very high and extreme fire danger ratings.

“We understand this may be inconvenient but believe this is the best option to reduce the risk of wildfire in our area,” the post said.

Etherton noted that the five northern counties are at Preparedness Level 4 for wildland fire response, the second-highest level.

This means most firefighting resources — from crews to aircraft — are already assigned to currently burning fires, leaving few resources available to respond to other incidents.

“We’ll have to split resources and do more with less,” Etherton said.