Area fires slow growing

SANDPOINT — The Parker Ridge Fire and the Clark Fork Complex fires had little movement overnight, officials said.

Shanna Kleinsmith, public information officer for the Parker Ridge Fire, said they grew 30 acres to about 6,252 acres, and are still showing 27 percent contained.

There are currently 87 people battling the fire, with a heavy and light helicopter and more than 7 fire engines. The resources should stay with the fire for the duration, which will take time to fully contain.

“It’s going to take a season ending weather event,” public information officer Kary Maddox said.

Kleinsmith said that the helicopter has only been able to drop buckets in the morning due to visibility from smoke.

“They just can see anything,”Kleinsmith said.

She said the night crew has been a big help, keeping watch over the fire.

“We have eyes on the fire at all times,”Kleinsmith said.

Closures for the fire include Parker Creek Trail No. 14, Long Canyon Trail No. 16, and Parker Ridge Trail No. 221 and the Fisher Peak Trail. The Pacific Trail is also closed east and west of the fire.

Crews are working on building lines and putting out hotspots along the north and northeast flanks, near Long Canyon Ridge, and made progress mopping up along the south flank of the fire by Parker Creek with the help of helicopter bucket drops. Maddox said this field has peat bog, which can smolder through a winter and not be completely out. The field is east of Westside Road, which is currently on a Stage 1 alert for evacuation.

The Clark Fork Complex fires include the Scotchman Peak fire, currently about 1,920 acres, the Whitetail Fire, about 1,594 acres, and the Marten Creek Fire, about 6 acres.

Infrared photography taken from a flight on Wednesday night was finally to able to penetrate the smoke layer and give fire managers a picture of what the fires had been doing under their blanket of smoke over the last three days.

The acreage of the complex grew to 13,762 acres, although acres on some individual fires actually shrank from what had been estimated using other less accurate means.

According to a press release, the Scotchman Peak fire left a glow as interior islands burned overnight.

The majority of heat on the Scotchman Peak Fire is at the north end where it is hung up in the rocky, fuel-free cliffs below Scotchman No. Two Mountain. The southern end of the fire, where it is closest to private land in the Clark Fork Valley, is not showing significant heat.

Personnel will be put on the Scotchman Peak Fire to look at ways to protect valuable whitebark pine plus seed trees. Whitebark pine is a species threatened by an imported disease called white pine blister rust. The plus trees are important to the reestablishment of whitebark pine in its native habitat.

The smokejumpers were removed from the Marten Creek fire after doing four days of firefighting that significantly reduced the threat from that fire, the release said. The Marten Creek Fire is now in monitor status.

The Whitetail Fire continues to be hot at the northeast edge where two crews of elite hot-shots reinforced Forest Road 332 and began line construction south of the ridge toward the headwaters of Blacktail Creek.

Thursday activities included two hot-shot crews and a contingent of heavy equipment fighting to hold the Whitetail Fire. The release said crews will also construct check lines along the western flank of the fire.

Panhandle Health is offering smoke masks that can minimize health hazards and they can be picked up at the Cenex Station in Clark Fork.

There are a few Level 1 evacuation alerts for the fire, bounded by the State Line on the east, River Road (south of the Clark Fork River) on the north, the main fork of Johnson Creek on the west and the Shoshone/Bonner County Line to the south.

Evacuations are in effect along Highway 56 from mile marker 14 extending south to mile mark 2.7, for both sides of the highway. The evacuation zone also includes all residences on the East Fork Bull River Road. Pre-evacuation notices are in effect for all residences north of Highway 200 from mile marker 6 to the Highway 56 intersection (approximately 4 miles), for the residents on the Old Bull River Road and for residents on Highway 56 from approximately mile mark 14.5 to mile mark 14; and mile mark 2.7 south to the Highway 200 intersection.

The Tower Fire, in Pend Oreille County Washington and about 6 miles from Priest Lake, has burned about 14,671. It is showing a 10 percent containment with 701 people battling the blaze.

The fire has slowly grown west and northwest, and north near Pyramid Pass.

On Wednesday, crews got a break from the multiple spot fires from fire activity overnights. The crews worked the dozer lines and forest roads, to keep the fire from spreading to the southwest.

Crews improved the sawline and reinforced Forest Road 100 and Cee Cee Ah Road, preparing to burn out from the roads to the fire line. They hope to keep the fire out of the Cee Cee Ah drainage. The fire is currently about 2 miles from the Kalispel Indian Reservation, which put them on a level 1 evacuation alert. The tribe is working to build a contingency line on an existing trail.

On the north end of the fire, near Priest Lake, crews worked to stop the spread of the fire from crossing Squaw Valley Road in any more places. Structure protection teams are finished in the Squaw Valley area and are moving toward West Priest Lake.

The Squaw Valley area is still on a Level 2 evacuation alert, meaning be ready to leave at a moments notice.

Level 1 evacuations alerts remain for the Kalispel Reservation, the Pend Oreille River Corridor (From the Usk Bridge on the south to LeClerc Creek Road on the North), the Best Chance Road area, the Bear Paw Area and the Hwy 57 Corridor from Priest River north. The highway is open to traffic. Residents in these areas are asked to monitor emergency activities and make a plan to leave on a short notice. A Public Information meeting is currently scheduled for Pend Oreille County residents in the Level 1 Evacuation area Friday, August 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the Kalispel Camas Wellness Center Gymnasium.

An area closure is in effect for the Browns Lake and North and South Skookum Campgrounds. The Colville and Idaho Panhandle National Forests have closures in the area of the fires. The Colville National Forest, Newport and Sullivan Lake Ranger Districts, Tower Fire Incident area, south of (but not including) County Road 3521 and Forest Road 1934-000 (East Branch of LeClerc Creek Road), west of the eastern Colville National Forest boundary, north of the section lines one mile south of Township 34N, and east of the Pend Oreille River.