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Fire season fizzles out
Sandpoint Reader, 9-20-23
Autumn weather has officially set in to the relief of firefighters across the state. The Idaho Department of Lands released its final statewide fire update Sept. 15, marking the end of the season.
Overall a total of 84,278 acres burned across Idaho this year, 62,377 of which were under U.S. Forest Service management. The IDL extinguished all major fires within its jurisdiction by the time of the report, and there are no fire restrictions currently in place.
Area residents watched the Ridge Creek Fire north of Hayden Lake closely, as it was the largest blaze this far north. As of Sept. 19, the fire continued to smolder at 80% containment, according to status updates released by the Forest Service through the InciWeb fire map. The cause of the fire is listed simply as “human.”
The Ridge Creek Fire affected approximately 4,474 acres, and though some brush continues to burn, officials said there’s little risk of it spreading further.
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As wildfire costs increase, Idaho Land Board calls for 4.7% budget increase in 2025
Idaho Capital Sun, 9-20-23
The Idaho State Board of Land Commissioners approved a 4.7% increase in the budget request for the Idaho Department of Lands’ fiscal year 2025 budget on Tuesday in Boise.
Overall, the land board approved a budget request totaling $90.3 million from all funding sources, including state and federal funding. The state general fund share of the total budget would be just over $11 million in the proposed new budget, for an increase of 6.4% over the current budget.
Several of the Idaho Department of Lands’ expenses are for fighting wildfires and equipment. The fiscal year 2025 budget request includes requests for $500,000 for four engines for North Idaho’s Cottonwood District, engine fuel and maintenance, as well as an estimated $250,000 increase in the costs of fire operating expenses due to inflation. There are also requests for $27,000 in additional funding for 10 new laptops and software licenses for engine bosses in the fire program and another $25,000 for laptops and software for operations equipment.
The budget also includes a 1% change in employee compensation pay increase for employees as well as adjusted salary and benefits for new positions.
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Idaho Lands department asks for budget increase for fire operations
Idaho Press, 9-20-23
The cost of running the Idaho Department of Lands fire program is increasing overall due to inflation.
The increase to the fire suppression spending is part of the department’s fiscal year 2025 budget proposal, which is up 4.7% in total over the previous year. Department Director Dustin Miller presented the agency’s budget request Tuesday morning at the State Board of Land Commissioners meeting.
The agency submitted the request to the Division of Financial Management on Sept. 1 along with all other state agencies; the governor’s office will later decide on what requests to include in Gov. Brad Little’s proposed budget for the legislative session, which starts in January.
The board unanimously approved the Department of Lands’ approximately $90.3 million request without discussion Tuesday.
The request includes $11.1 million of state general funds, which is a 6.4% increase over last year’s appropriation.
Fire report: More than 84,000 acres burned in Idaho this year
Idaho Press, 9-17-23
The Hayden Fire, which has been burning since July 19, is now about 84% contained, according to the Idaho Department of Lands latest statewide fire update.
The fire is located in the Lemhi Range, 18 miles west of Leadore in steep and difficult terrain in an area with a lot of dead and downed timber. The cause is undetermined. IDL reports as of Sept. 15 the fire now is mainly just smoldering, and full containment is expect by Oct. 1.
Hayden's 24,706 acres are part of a total 84,287 acres burned so far this year. That includes, by landowner:
- Idaho Department of Lands: 1,361
- Private property: 7,936
- Bureau of Land Management: 12,177
- Forest Service land: 62,377
- Tribal land: 29
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DEQ: Triumph water contaminated with arsenic, manganese
Idaho Mountain Express, 9-17-23
Orange-stained ditch water that state officials observed seeping up from the ground along East Fork Road this past spring was contaminated with more than 880 times the federally recommended maximum arsenic concentration and 3,700 times the recommended maximum manganese concentration, according to April sampling results released by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality last week.
The DEQ previously attributed the cause of the fluorescent ditch water to winter snowmelt and spring precipitation, which caused a private pond along the road to overflow onto an adjacent, capped-off pile of mine tailings. The snowmelt saturated the underlying mine waste, which leached iron oxide residue and other heavy metals up from the ground to low points along the road and around the tailings pile, the agency said.
The Triumph Mine’s “upper” and “lower” tailings piles—located across the road from the main mine tunnel—sit on property owned by the Idaho Department of Lands. In the late 1990s, the piles were flattened and graded, covered with a clay seal and six inches of clean soil, and seeded with native grasses in accordance with a state-led remediation plan.
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As residents rebuild, Orofino Hospital Fire reveals challenges of urban fires
Spokane Public Radio, 9-16-23
Joanne Schwartz and her husband John count themselves as some of the lucky ones.
On August 29, the Orofino Hospital Fire scorched 53 acres, destroying six homes and multiple outbuildings in the Wixson Heights neighborhood, according to the Idaho Department of Lands.
The blue Schwartz home sits on the end of the road where most houses caught fire. John Schwartz was home when he heard his neighbors yelling to get out.
“I went to the backyard and started hooking up sprinklers and then a wall of flame come out here and hit Baker’s house. It must have been 40, 50 feet in the air and that house just exploded,” he said.
Joanne Schwartz was already downtown when the evacuation order came. The side of their house is burned with damaged windows.
“It was just the heat that hit our house and melted all of the siding, clear down to the plyboard,” she said. “The windows held. The inside panes are still there, they’re cracked.”
Kane Steinbruecker is the chief fire warden for the Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association (CPTPA). He ran the operation for the Orofino Hospital fire.
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What we like about fall
Posted September 20, 2023
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When summer winds down and fall arrives at Idaho's doorstep, this is one of the things we like best!
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