Little Pine Fire is 100% contained

PRIEST RIVER — Little Pine fire staff employed the Idaho Department of Lands unmanned aerial system once again on Tuesday to give them a better sense of the fire.

Infrared cameras scanned the fire’s entirety allowing fire managers to see how effective the work has been since the previous flight, and confirmed mop up specifications (cold to the touch for 200 feet from the fireline’s edge toward the center).

“This technology has definitely helped us keep our fire crews safe and efficient during this unusually hot June by targeting efforts instead of just searching in the hopes of finding hot pockets,” said incident commander Mike McManus.

The fire is now 100% contained and remains at 190 acres. The incident management team will turn command of the fire back to the local fire district at 6 a.m. Thursday. Internal pockets of fuels will continue to burn into the future and the public may see smoke in the area into the fall without substantial wetting rains.

The incident management team would like to thank the public and the Bonner County Office of Emergency Management for their support throughout this incident. With what appears to be a long and arduous fire season, fire managers would like to stress that the best way to thank a firefighter is to be fire smart and prevent all unwanted human caused fires.

The Little Pine fire is burning 7 miles north of Priest River in Pine Creek, 1 mile south of Blue Lake in Bonner County, Idaho. It was reported Tuesday, June 22 at 3 p.m. Pacific Time.