Crews make gains on area fires

SANDPOINT — With the Bernard Peak Fire at 65% containment, fire crews are being used to assess and contain the fire in the area around Road 2707 and W. Gold Creek.

Crews are also finishing containment lines on the fire's east flank above Road 270 and protection work near and in the Lakeview area is nearing completion.

To protect fire crews and for public safety, area closures remain in effect in the vicinity of the Bernard Peak Fire, which has burned 1,380 acres. The public is reminded they cannot enter the closed areas, which include all of the Bernard Peak Trail from the trailhead at Farragut State Park.

A weather system expected to bring widespread wetting rain to the Idaho Panhandle by this evening and weather onThursday and Friday is expected to be cool, breezy, and showery.

While no evacuations were necessary and structures have been destroyed, U.S. Forest Service officials said the small community of Lakeview was threatened, although the threat has diminished. Fire control efforts have included structure protection and a shaded fuel break constructed between Lakeview and the fire.

On the Callahan Fire, containment of the 1,276-acre fire has reached 40%, USFS officials said on InciWeb, an online, interagency fire database. Located about nine miles west of Troy near the Idaho/Montana border, the fire, which is burning in timbered, steep terrain south of Smith Mountain.

Crews continue to extinguish the area along the fire’s southern edge and crews are patrolling and monitoring existing lines, engaging when necessary. Mechanical equipment continues to improve contingency line to the north of the fire by removing fuels along Road 427, officials said.

An 8-acre spot fire to the east has been completely lined and firefighters will begin to work the interior to ensure the spot is contained, USFS officials said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.