Kootenai River Complex Fire Update Sept. 12
BOUNDARY COUNTY —-- The Russell Mountain and Trout Fires burned together and will now be called the Russell Mountain Fire. Fire activity on the Russell Mountain and Katka Fires continues to be a low intensity, backing ground fire that has been slowly moving downhill.
The estimated size of the Kootenai River Complex fires is 19,708 acres with 346 personal working on the fires.
The Incident Management Team reported this morning, firefighters continued to improve the fireline and remained in place during both the day and night shifts to hold and suppress the fire as it reaches the fireline and Westside Road. The Russell Mountain Fire has reached a constructed fireline west of the Westside Road and the Westside Road in several locations between Trout Creek Road and Ball Creek Road.
Crews have been successful holding the fire in these locations, Incident Team officials wrote. Due to cloud cover, the overnight infrared detection flight was only able to map the north half of the Russell Mountain Fire showing an increase in size of 404 acres.
Hundreds of firefighters from around the country have labored around the clock to keep the Russell Fire to the west of Westside Road, Boundary County PIO and Director of Emergency Management Andrew O'Neel wrote in a press release. They are allowing the fire to gently ease down the slope towards the containment lines that they have constructed using heavy machinery and hand-tools. Meanwhile, structure protection teams have prepared defenses around residents’ homes and are ready in case the fire behavior suddenly changes. Firefighting crews are patrolling the road to keep an eye out for spot fires and unexpected fire behavior.
Residents may see an increase in smoke today at the northwest edge of the former Eneas Peak Fire area, as the fire is expected to burn into an area of heavy fuels consisting of dead and downed trees, O'Neel wrote in a press release.
Planned actions include, crews will work on handline construction south of the Ball Creek Road area to strengthen and connect with the already completed fireline. Officials explicit the fire to continue backing downhill towards the Westside Road and prepared a fireline. Firefighters and engines continue to hold and suppress the fire as it reaches the constructed line and road along and near the Westside Road.
Crews will begin thinning vegetation in some areas along the west side of the Westside Road. Weather conditions are expected to be smokey with the possibility of north/northeast winds increasing from mid to late in the day.
The Katka Fire is increasing in acreage at a relatively slow pace and fire managers have identified roads that will be used as control lines around the fire to prevent it from advancing, O'Neel said. Fire activity on the Katka Fire will continue to be monitored. Helicopters remain available to be used for water delivery as needed however, the smoky conditions have prevented flying the past couple of days.
Weather for the day includes cloud cover that will spread across the region as a weather system passes to the north in Canada. Outflow winds from thunderstorms could potentially channel through the fire area by mid to late afternoon gusting 10 to 15 mph. Relative humidity levels will drop as low as 30% in the afternoon in the valley.
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.
Updates to evacuation preparedness stages will also be posted on the Boundary County Emergency Management/PIO Facebook page.
