Cape Horn Fire (Idaho Panhandle National Forest)

July 8 at 5:00 PM

According to the last update that I found on the Cape Horn incident page at Inciweb (2 PM on July 8), the fire has burned 1,380 acres and is at 35 percent containment. I believe that evacuations are still in place. Bill Gabbert writes about the Cape Horn today (July 8th), including some photographs and a video of campers being rescued by a boat.

The Spokesman-Review has a photo gallery of the fire with links for some of their coverage. KXLY has a report and video dated July 8th (11:19 AM) reporting on the reduction in acreage burned to 1,380 acres, containment, and an update on the evacuations in place.

July 6 at 4:00 PM

The acreage burned by the Cape Horn Fire remains at 2,000 acres according to the latest update at the Cape Horn incident page at Inciweb that I saw a little while ago. Gov. Butch Otter has declared Bonner and Kootenai Counties disaster areas according to this Spokesman-Review article on the fire (July 6, 12:50 PM).

For other information on this fire see:

Coeur d'Alene Press (July 6, 12:15 AM)
KXLY report (July 6, 12:00 PM)
KXLY photo gallery

This fire caught my eye this morning, so I'll update this post as the situation warrants. I am reminded that firefighters on the ground and in the air are working hard to contain this fire. I understand from the media reports that I have linked that it was windy yesterday and winds may continue today. I believe that air operations, wind allowing, continued today

Perhaps this fire will never make the national news; I hope not for when that happens it is not a good thing. But this fire, like all other wildfires, is of local concern. And that matters.

July 6, 2015 at 10:40 AM

When I was checking various sources around the web this morning, I read about the Cape Horn Fire that was first reported the afternoon of July 5th at the south end of Lake Pend Orielle in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest. I understand that evacuations are in place and airtankers and helicopters worked the fire. According to the latest update available from the Cape Horn incident page at Inciweb the fire has burned about 2,000 acres as of about 9:20 AM with a report of six structures being destroyed. Inciweb incident pages are updated periodically while the wildfire is burning and what I write about here may not be the latest information.

For more information about the Cape Horn Fire including a video with footage of a tanker working the fire, see this report (from July 5th) from KXLY out of Spokane-Coeur d'Alene.