Fire claims 2 Priest Lake cabins

COOLIN — Two cabins were reportedly destroyed by structure fires on Sunday night, according to North of the Narrows Fire District officials.

The fires were reported shortly after 6 p.m. in the 100 block of South Diamond Park Road, Bonner County sheriff’s officials said in a Nixle alert.

There were no reports of injuries. One of the home’s occupants were out to dinner when the fire took hold, said Dean Fielder, chairman of the fire district’s board of commissioners.

The Diamond Park development was part of the fire district when it formed, but landowners petitioned county commissioners in the mid-1990s to be de-annexed.

“They’re this little unprotected island within our fire district,” said Fiedler.

North of the Narrows elected to respond to the fires anyway to keep them from spreading further. The district docked its fire boat on Priest Lake and ran hoses up the shoreline to the fire.

Idaho Department of Lands officials at Priest Lake, meanwhile, were able to scramble two tanker planes from IDL’s Category I base in Coeur d’Alene.

“IDL decided it was prudent to bring in some heavy artillery to knock the thing down,” Fiedler said.

Fiedler said the two air tankers collected water from the lake and made a half-dozen trips.

The two cabins were fully engulfed and allowed to burn.

“We helped protect the fire from spreading to additional structures,” said Fiedler.

North of the Narrows and Coolin-Cavanaugh Bay fire district officials said a lack of wind prevented the fire from being any more catastrophic.

“This could have taken out the whole subdivision,” said Mike Nielsen of Coolin-Cavanaugh Bay Fire said.

Fielder said some homeowners in the Diamond Park are pushing to be annexed back into the fire district, but a majority appear to want to remain outside of it.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.