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Kootenai River Complex

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Unit Information

3232 West Nursery Road 
Coeur d'Alene, 
Idaho 
83814 
3232 West Nursery Road 
Coeur d'Alene, 
Idaho 
83814 

Incident Contacts

  • IPNF Fire Information Line
    Phone:
    208-557-8813
  • Kootenai River Complex Fire Information Line
    Phone:
    208-202-5021
    Hours:
    Monday - Sunday 7am to 9pm
  • Bonners Ferry Ranger District - Closure Info
    Phone:
    208-267-5561
    Hours:
    Monday - Friday 7:30 am to 4:00 pm

Kootenai River Complex Fact Sheet - Sept 27, 2022

Kootenai River Complex
Publication Type: News 09/29/2022

*Factsheets on the Kootenai River Complex will be provided with less frequency or as operations change*

Incident Command: Type 2 Eastern Area Incident Management Team Gold, Brian Pisarek, IC 

Estimated Size: 21,808 acres Completion: 85%              Personnel: 230
 
Key Message: As the complexity of fires change, so does the infrastructure supporting those fires. The Eastern Area Incident Management Team is expected to transition the command of the Kootenai River Complex, back to the Bonners Ferry Ranger District this coming weekend. Over the next several days, some resources on the fire will be timing out or shifting their efforts to other objectives such as suppression repair.
 
Current Status: Fire behavior was a little more active causing widespread smoke and fog at lower elevations due to an inversion layer coupled with light winds. This made fire progression monitoring challenging for operations at night and in the early mornings, including the ability to monitor control lines by air. Dead and down heavy fuels continue to be the main carrier of fire, particularly on the southern and eastern slopes. The main operations firefighters are focusing on are reinforcing and patrolling fire control lines, mitigating hazard trees and snags, and chipping cut materials.

Planned Actions: More smoke expected in the lower elevations with another day of heavy air settling over the area.  Crews will be actively looking for opportunities for suppression repair in areas that will not impact secure control lines. Fire intensity is expected to remain low, smoldering and creeping through dead and down fuels. Priorities are reinforcing and patrolling fire control lines and monitoring fire behavior, especially in canyons that have shown recent activity. There will still be testing of structure protection equipment, chipping, excavating and hazard tree removal. The Katka Fire and Long Canyon Fire have shown minimal fire growth and will continue to be unstaffed and monitored by aircraft if conditions are safe for flying.
 
Weather: Weather patterns will be warm and dry through Wednesday, but winds should be relatively calm.  High temperatures in the valley will be in the upper 70’s/low 80’s with minimum relative humidity hovering around 25-37%. On Thursday, temperatures are expected to drop 20 degrees with a chance of precipitation.
 
Closures: Due to active fires and fire suppression activities, Westside Road is restricted to residents only. Additionally, the following National Forest Trails and Roads 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).
 
Evacuations: There are NO Evacuations currently in place. Those living on the Westside Road closest to Ball Creek, Burton Creek, and Clark Creek are in READY fire pre-evacuation status. 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 are TFRs in place for air space over the Katka Fire (2-2384) and the Russell Mountain Fire (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!