Sunset Fire grows to 1,400 acres overnight; new evacuation orders issued
Smoke from the Sunset Fire can be seen over a Selkirk Fire vehicle on Thursday.
Photo courtesy SELKIRK FIRE
Smoke from the Sunset Fire can be seen in southern Bonner County.
Photo courtesy SELKIRK FIRE
Smoke from the Sunset Fire can be seen in southern Bonner County.
Photo courtesy SELKIRK FIRE
Additional evacuations have been issued Thursday evening, per the Bonner County Sheriff's Office:
GO Status for USFS 630 off Blacktail Road (north of Blacktail), Butler Creek and Butler Creek Spur, from Mirror Lake diagonal down to USFS 630, including Five Lakes Estates, Jumpline Landing, the entire Ponderosa neighborhood and everything south of Talache Road.
SET Status for everything north of Talache Road in Sagle.
Evacuation site: Cocolalla Bible Camp.
There is an evacuation reception area at Sagle Elementary School, and evacuated cows and horses can be taken to the Bonner County fairgrounds.
The Kootenai County Sheriff has put the community of Bayview into a READY status for evacuation in case winds shift the fire.
Thermal imaging from earlier in the day showed the fire to be at least 1,400 acres in size, according to the latest update from Idaho Department of Lands.
The Sunset Fire is currently reported to be moving north along the shore of Lake Pend Oreille and putting out a "large header of smoke," which is visible in many areas of Bonner County and "very visible" in Sagle, a release from BCSO said.
High winds and poor visibility made firefighting efforts difficult Wednesday night, IDL said.
Resources have more than doubled Thursday with additional resources both in the air and on the ground.
Air resources include 2 Scoopers, 4 Type 1 Helicopters, 4 Air tankers and an Air Attack Plane that circles within the fire perimeter and directs air traffic.
Ground support includes 15 engines, 4 dozers, and 5 water tenders. Three additional Hand Crews are now fighting along with the Panhandle Hot Shot Crew. Another Hot Shot Crew is on the way. Total resources are expected to be close to 200 personnel.
A Type 3 Interagency Management Team took over management of the fire today. The fire, which was reported around 3:30 pm on Tuesday, has damaged 3 structures with assessments ongoing.
IDL is being assisted by multiple cooperating agencies including rural and county fire departments and the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office.
IDL is asking residents to avoid the area of the fire and to never fly drones near wildfires, which can cause a serious or fatal accident if it collides with firefighting aircraft. Violation of this can result in criminal charges at the federal, state, and local levels.
