Little Pine fire completely contained

By Lyndsie Kiebert
Reader Staff

Even as temperatures rivaled all-time highs in North Idaho, firefighters working on the Little Pine fire near Priest River achieved 100% containment on June 30, holding the burn to 190 acres within Idaho Endowment Timberland boundaries.

Photo courtesy IDL.

The fire, located seven miles north of Priest River in Pine Creek and one mile south of Blue Lake, was reported around 3 p.m. on June 22. The Idaho Department of Lands has taken lead on the incident, employing the department’s unmanned aerial system of infrared cameras to track the fire’s growth and gauge mop up effort effectiveness.

“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.

With the fire now completely contained, IDL will turn command back over to local fire officials early in the morning on July 1. Still, “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,” IDL shared in a June 30 media release.

“The incident management team would like to thank the public and the Bonner County Office of Emergency Management for their support throughout this incident,” IDL officials continued. “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.”