Character Complex fires continue to grow

PRICHARD — Fires to the left, fires to the right — the city of Prichard is certainly stuck in the middle of the ever growing Character Complex fires.

Responsible for burning over 2,300 acres of combined mountainous forest land and lowering the Silver Valley's air quality to sometimes unhealthy levels, the Deceitful and Prichard fires (together making up the Character Complex) have been causing all sorts of havoc in Shoshone County since the July 7 lightning storm. While many of the wildfires that cropped up in Shoshone County last Wednesday after the storm were quickly taken care of, the U.S. Forest Service reports that these two specific fires continue to give wildland firefighters problems.

On July 14, command of the complex was transferred to the Northern Rockies Incident Management Team 3 with Mike Almas as incident commander. A total of 201 personnel are on-scene combating the fires and zero structures have been lost. Primary and Cooperating Agencies include the USFS, Idaho Department of Lands, Shoshone County Fire Districts, Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office, Prichard/Murray VFD, Stimson Lumber, Molpus Woodlands Group, Avista Utilities, and Bonneville Power Administration.

The largest of the two complex fires, the Deceitful Fire, has burned approximately 1,800 acres of land roughly 7 miles southwest of Prichard and remains 0% contained. ​USFS explains that heavily wooded and inaccessible terrain has been a challenge to combating the blaze.

"The fire is burning in a heavily timbered area that has not burned since the Big Burn of 1910," USFS stated in a news release.

Access to the fire has been difficult and there are few useful safety zones or escape routes for firefighters to use if fire behavior should become extreme. To counter this, fire managers spent much of Wednesday and Thursday scouting the area and looking for opportunities for firefighters to safely access the fire area and to construct control/containment lines.

Managers are also working with private landowners to further identify opportunities for line construction. A heavy equipment task force plans to be used to help build an indirect line where opportunities exist in the areas of Montgomery Gulch and Moon Saddle, as well as from Montgomery Gulch to the Coeur d’Alene River.

The smaller Prichard Fire, which has burned 600 acres of land roughly 5 miles northeast of Prichard, is also 0% contained. USFS states that fire crews continue to implement both direct and indirect strategies with this fire.

“Air resources dropped water to help cool hot spots along the Prichard Fire’s southwest perimeter with support from firefighters on the ground,” USFS said in a news release. “Heavy equipment will be used to clean up along the existing road system to tie the fire into the Bobtail Fire burn scar.”

Fire crews will also be assessing private properties for structural protection planning. The Structure Protection Group will coordinate with local agencies for the initial attack.

Moving forward, USFS personnel know several factors are working against their firefighting efforts.

“With high temperatures compounding dry conditions, dead and down fuels are near historic low fuel moisture levels and will readily ignite,” USFS said. “In some areas, live fuels are fully cured and ready to burn.”

On Wednesday, the Idaho Panhandle National Forests issued a closure order for the Deceitful Fire including road, trail, and area closures. The closure order and a map is posted on InciWeb and on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests Facebook page.

The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office has closed the following roads: Eagle Creek Road, Montgomery Ridge Road and Bobtail Road at Prichard Creek.

In cooperation with SCSO, fire managers have prepared a population protection plan for communities near the fires should the need for evacuations arise. As of Thursday, no evacuation orders are in place.

Smoke from the Character Complex fires, and others in the area, have contributed to the massive build-up of smoke in the Silver Valley. The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has shown that air quality levels have ranged from Moderate to even Unhealthy levels since the fires first began.

A remote air quality monitor was set up in Kellogg Thursday to help keep a more accurate reading of the air quality and track how it changes from its readings to the permanent monitoring station at Pinehurst Elementary School.

IDEQ was asked by the city of Kellogg if they had any of the portable remote monitors available for use and the agency was happy to oblige.

The portable monitors are called E-BAMS and are essentially a smaller version of the permanent monitors they use regularly.

“They give us 15-minute estimated readings and hourly measured readings,” Shawn Sweetapple with IDEQ told News-Press. “The neat thing about these monitors is that we are provided with a satellite pack by the U.S. Forest Service. Because of the satellite pack we can essentially deploy those monitors anywhere they are needed.”

As of Thursday, the monitor will sit atop the old the old District No. 2 firehouse in Uptown Kellogg and measure the air quality for IDEQ and USFS to monitor.

For up-to-date information on the Character Complex fire, visit https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7654/