Community steps up to help fight fires

SANDPOINT — The community is banding together to help battle several fires across the area, with the help ranging from thank you to community dinner for fire crews to grabbing the tractor to help move dirt.

The Parker Ridge Fire, northwest of Bonners Ferry, has grown to 6,147 acres with 0 percent contained. As of Monday, about 125 personnel worked to anchor defensive lines along Westside Road and moved north, with the fire not following.

Kary Maddox, the public information officer for the Parker Ridge Fire, said they were grateful for about 22 people in the California Hot Shots crew arriving to help battle the blaze.  

The south side of the fire has stalled at Parker Creek, and crews are working toward improving the fire line on the north and around residences.

According to the fire tracking website Inciweb, crews are monitoring, assessing strategies and looking for vantage points to fight the fire. The fire was caused by a lightning strike and first reported July 29.

A community stand was made Friday, with farmers from the Kootenai Valley stepping up to help fight the fire that had jumped the river at least twice. Farmer Erik Olson said his crew at the Olson Valley Ranch, Tim Dillin and the Houcks crew, Lynn Jantz and his crew, Brian Morter, Roger Morter and their crew, the Amoth crew and many of the volunteer fire departments in the county helped keep the fire away from their lands and from reaching the Farm to Market Road.

“If your neighbor is on fire, you go help them,” Olson said. “Everything we had on fire was north of Copeland.”

Olson said that the bottom areas are free of fire, however, a small change in the weather or other shifts could bring the fire back to the valley. One structure, an abandoned building that had more “historic” value than anything else, is the only structure lost that he knows of.

The group used their tractors, water trucks, and “anything that moved dirt,” to battle the blaze, working late into the night.

“We had a lot of courage and a hell of a lot of luck that night on our side to get it out,” Olson said.

Maddox said the group was instrumental in fighting the fire that jumped Westside Road and the Kootenai River on Friday.

Maddox said the weekend also had a pouring of community support. A group of private community members contacted their logistics department, asking what they could do to help. Maddox said the call came in about 2 p.m. on Saturday, with a spaghetti feed put together to feed the firefighters by 6 p.m. Enough food was collected that the firefighters were also fed on Sunday.

“It was really sweet and touching,” Maddox said. “They used Facebook for good. That’s how they networked it.”

Copeland Road is closed to the public, and the Westside evacuation area is closed. Parker Ridge Trail No. 221, Fisher Peak Trail No. 14 and the Long Canyon Trail No. 16 are also closed.

The Scotchman Peak Fire was reported Aug. 13, caused from lightning. It quickly burned 600 acres in the first 18 hours, and has spread to 2,356 acres. According to Inciweb, as of Sunday, no firefighters are working the blaze as safety is a concern and resources are scarce. It is burning toward the Blue Creek drainage, a rocky and broken landscape, that should reduce the growth of the fire.

Trail closures for the Scotchman Peak Fire include Scotchman Peak Trail No. 65, Goat Mountain No. 135, Regal No. 132, East Fork System Nos. 1184, 563, 1030 and 212.

The Tower Fire has burned 5,884 acres and is 1 percent contained. About 41 firefighters are working the blaze, located on the Pend Oreille Divide west of Priest Lake on about 60 percent Idaho Panhandle National Forest land.

It includes the South Baldy Lookout Tower, 4 miles west of the Idaho State line, on the Idaho Panhandle and Colville National Forests.

Lightning started the fire on Aug. 11, and is bunring a mix of grass slopes and mature forests with heavy fuels.

According to Inciweb, the fire was active Monday on the southern, northern and eastern edges with frequent spot fires. About 10 loads of retardant were used to reinforce holding lines on the southern and western flanks.

The fire grew more than 1,000 acres Monday, but has remained in the higher elevation forests of South Baldy and Grouse Knob. The fire remains in Washington State, but about 60 percent of the area is on the Idaho Panhandle National Forest.

Smoke may be visible from the Priest Lake area. Crews verified that the South Baldy Lookout and the Backcountry Warming Cabin are intact, surviving from within the fire perimeter.