Smoke from the region's wildfires continued to affect air quality Monday as firefighting response teams continued to battle multiple blazes throughout North Idaho and Eastern Washington.
Members of the incident management team working on the Ridge Creek Fire spoke Sunday to hundreds of local citizens, many attending a community meeting in Athol in person and others viewing and asking questions via a livestream on the U.S. Forest Service, Idaho Panhandle National Forests’ Facebook page.
The Ridge Creek Fire, which began Aug. 3, involves 4,020 acres of forest system land roughly 3.5 miles east of the north tip of Hayden Lake, along Hayden Creek Road (Forest Service Road 437), from the Ridge Creek drainage south to South Chilco Mountain.
Smoke from the region's wildfires filled the skies, bringing air quality to hazardous levels Saturday.
However, there was good news as the Buckskin 2 Fire south of Clark Fork more than doubled in containment, prompting Bonner County Sheriff's Office to lift a "Ready" evacuation notice in the area.