Prescribed fire closures lifted

COEUR D’ALENE — The Idaho Panhandle National Forests announced Thursday the area closure in place during prescribed fire operations on the Upper River Fuels Reduction Project has been rescinded. 

Located in the Upper North Fork Coeur d Alene River basin, the project saw aerial ignitions Tuesday that resulted in about 400 acres burned.

On Sept. 8, helitorch ignitions on the Boulder Backcountry Project outside of Bonners Ferry resulted in about 1,000 acres burned. 

"Recent precipitation has shifted the prescribed fire focus from landscape projects to logging slash and pile burning," a press release said.

Common to both projects is the goal of reducing hazardous fuels to reduce the intensity and severity of wildfires in the future, the release said.