Mission Flats wildfire contained

CATALDO — When the National Weather Advisory warned of scattered lightning storms across the region on Tuesday, many residents collectively held their breath because they knew what was coming.

Drier than normal, hotter than normal, windier than normal — these were all the conditions that we were warned about.

North Idaho may have dodged the proverbial Fourth of July fireworks bullet for the most part, but we weren’t so lucky on Wednesday, as fire crews from multiple agencies across the region battled numerous wildfires in the west end of Shoshone County and eastern parts of Kootenai County.

The biggest and most visible was the Mission Flats Fire near the Cataldo Mission State Park. The fire, which was declared contained as of Thursday morning, grew to 102 acres in size as crews under the guidance of the Idaho Department of Lands used several methods to keep the fire to a specific area west of the Mission.

Tyler Groth with IDL stated that one of the primary concerns was ensuring that the fire didn’t jump Interstate 90 and get to the north side of the freeway — where it would have cut off access for travelers and possibly spread quickly through acres of dried vegetation.

“We really worked hard to make sure it didn’t cross I-90 and get to the other side there,” Groth said. “We were trying to keep it boxed in between the (Coeur d’Alene) River, the swampy area below Tamarack Ridge, and this road (near the Mission boat launch). That was where we were trying to keep the fire.”

Early in the day, the Idaho Transportation Department temporarily closed the right lane of eastbound I-90 due to the proximity of the flames to the road.

Fire crews, consisting of personnel from IDL, Shoshone County Fire Districts 1, 2, and 3, the U.S. Forest Service, Kootenai County Fire & Rescue, Northern Lakes Fire District, and St. Maries Fire Protection District, set up a command post at the Cataldo Boat Launch to ensure the preservation of Cataldo Mission State Park.

Crews were assisted by contracted operators from DG&S Construction, as well as Cochrane Excavation, who used dozers to help establish lines around the area of containment.

In addition to the strong work on the ground, IDL Fire Warden Chris Meyers attributed a lot of their success on the Mission Flats Fire to constant aerial support — which included consistent water and retardant drops from numerous planes and helicopters.

This fire was responsible for the majority of the smoke in the local area and had been the cause of several false fire reports in places where smoke had lingered. The smoke was so thick that the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality air quality reading at the Pinehurst monitoring station got as high as 140 or "unhealthy for sensitive groups."

The only other active wildfire from the bunch that started Wednesday is the Graham Ridge fire (or Graham complex fires), located north of Prichard. IDL says this fire is made up of multiple spot fires and is estimated to be more than 20 acres in size and 0% contained as of Thursday.

Due to terrain having heavy timber and little-to-no ground access, much of the firefighting efforts are being conducted from the air. A Type 3 Incident Management Team has taken over management of this fire.

Other smaller fires that had assets on-scene and have been knocked down include the Galena fire near Killarney Lake (controlled at 0.1 acres) and the Fourth of July fire near the Rose Lake junction (controlled at 0.1 acres).

IDL confirmed in a press release that all the fires were caused by the early Wednesday morning lightning/wind storm.