Fire Update for Saturday Sept. 10

BOUNDARY COUNTY —- The Incident Management Team reported that on Friday Sept. 9 the Russell Mountain Fire slowly backed down the slopes west of the Westside Road, this generated quite a bit of smoke.

Officials said, light white smoke is an indicator of a low intensity ground fire burning through light fuels. The observed fire activity was a low intensity, backing ground fire that slowly moved downhill and reached the fireline near Trout Creek Road and the Westside Road near Ball Creek Road in the evening.

Fire crews and engines continue to be in place all day and night to hold the fire at these lines. The fire activity on the Katka Fire was observed to be low to moderate. The Eneas Peak and Trout Fires grew together in the drainage between Fisher and Farnham Peaks. The overnight infrared detection flight mapped an increase of 26 acres on the Katka Fire and a combined Complex increase in size of 1,088 acres.

The estimated size of the Kootenai River Complex fires is 18,464 acres.

Planned actions include crews will continuing to work on fireline construction west of the Eneas Peak Fire using heavy equipment to cut and remove vegetation and set up hoses for water delivery.

Officials said the fire is expected to continue to slowly back downhill and reach the constructed firelines west of the Westside Road in several locations. Crews have spent a week preparing these firelines, the roads, and structure protection in anticipation of the fire moving downslope.

The current conditions with light winds are ideal for holding and securing these lines, officials said. Firefighters will be working in these areas all day and a night shift will take over the evening of Sept. 10. The Katka Fire will continue to be monitored. Helicopters remain available to be used for water delivery as needed and weather conditions allow.

Currently, weather temperatures are forecasted to increase over the weekend and with lighter winds from the north and northwest. Wind in the fire area will be terrain-driven, shifting from upslope during the day to downslope in the evening. Relative humidity levels will range from 50-60% overnight and drier in the afternoon.

Road closures: due to active fires and fire suppression activities, the Westside Road is restricted to residents-only. Additionally, the following National Forest Trails are now closed: Ball Creek Road (FR 432), Trout Creek Road (FR 634), Russell Mountain (No. 12), Russell Ridge (No. 92), Ball and Pyramid Lakes (No. 43), Pyramid Pass (No. 13), Pyramid Peak (No. 7), Fisher Peak (No. 27), Trout Lake (No. 41), McGinty Ridge (No. 143), Clifty Mountain and Clifty/Burrow (No. 182), Myrtle Peak Trail (No. 286), and Burton Peak Trail (No. 9).

There are no Evacuations currently in place. However, those living on the Westside Road closest to Ball Creek, Burton Creek, and Clark Creek have been placed in the “Set” fire evacuation status. “Set” is the stage of readiness before an actual evacuation takes place. If not voluntarily evacuating already, residents in this stage are advised to at least gather their evacuation supplies or pre-load them into their vehicles to enable a quick exit if evacuation is triggered.

Residents of Boundary County, Idaho can visit https://www.nixle.com or text their home zip code to 888777 to sign up for emergency alerts. To learn more about READY SET GO, visit https://bit.ly/3wi0jMu .

Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR): There is a TFR in place for air space over the Katka Fire (2-1234) and the Scotch Creek, Russell Mountain, Eneas Peak, and Trout Fires (2-1621) for aviation safety. Remember that temporary flight restrictions also apply to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or drones.

“If you fly, we can’t,” officials said.