CDA, Northwest Idaho, so many trees what about fire? (Salmon: insurance, house)

[StarrySkiesAbove]

Hello, although I don't post much I love to spend time over here on the Idaho forums, particularly the Front Porch. I am a lifelong resident of Colorado, I live in Colorado Springs. As you may know, we are experiencing another devastating fire here, the Black Forest fire. I can't even begin to explain how heartbroken our community is to lose such an amazing area, over 500 homes, 2 lives, and the lives of hundreds of family pets, horses livestock etc. This tragedy is on the heels of the Waldo Canyon fire which devastated our community almost a year earlier.

My husband and I are planning on visiting the CDA area early September it will be our first time visiting the panhandle. We have been to central Idaho rafting on the Salmon and the Middle Fork of the Salmon, spent some time up in Stanley and in the Frank Church Wilderness (when we were in the Frank Church Wilderness we went through areas of destruction from aftermath of a forest fire). I can say that Idaho is some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen, and that comes from someone who lives in a pretty gorgeous state too!

What I am curious about is when I look at pictures of the CDA area, the forests are amazing and many homes are in gorgeous wooded settings with little of what we call here "defensible space" around the structures. What is the fire danger like there? Colorado is much drier than the CDA area plus we have been in a bad drought for several years so I know that plays a part in fire danger. In fact the day the Black Forest Fire started we had temps in the mid 80's, 35mph wind and 2% humidity.

However, the Great Fire of 1910 burned about 3,000,000 acres across Montana, northeast Washington and northwest Idaho, I believe it is still the most destructive fire in US history. We often think about relocating to the CDA area but after the last few years here, these lovely forested properties give us pause...

Thank you for any input!

[Shaner]

We get fires, I feel that since most residents are around it alot, we take precautions and are not dumb about the matter. Plus we have amazing fire dept's and reservists that come together and squash anything that does come up pretty quickly. We also get a decent amount of rainfall, and when we don't everybody is watching out.

[StarrySkiesAbove]

Thanks Shaner, Colorado residents are also unfortunately no strangers to wild fires and I would not say that we are "dumb about the matter". The High Park fire last year which burned over 87,000 acres was started by a lightning strike, not much that precautions could have done there. I do think however the rainfall you mentioned and the overall greater ambient humidity in your area helps in keeping fires from becoming raging firestorms to a certain degree.

[mistyriver]

I live in the middle of the woods up near Priest Lake and it's always a bit of a worry in the hot dry summers. We lived thru one wildfire near Flagstaff and have no interest in doing that again, but I think it's a worry in most of the western forests.
The rainfall here usually peters out after the first week of July and things do dry up a lot till the rain begins again in fall. I always worry because that plentiful rain causes a lot of brush to grow in May and June and then dry out.

We just watch the skies and keep track of burns online and hope for the best. It's a great place to live!

[Walkaboutcda]

Originally Posted by Shaner

We get fires, I feel that since most residents are around it alot, we take precautions and are not dumb about the matter. Plus we have amazing fire dept's and reservists that come together and squash anything that does come up pretty quickly. We also get a decent amount of rainfall, and when we don't everybody is watching out.

I wish that was true but there is a certain segment of the population that is stupid about fires. I am constantly finding the remains of campfires on Tubbs Hill. A few days ago people were shooting off fireworks. Not too mention all of the smokers dropping their butts all over the hill. The fire we had last summer was caused by a campfire. I heard later that people were walking by on the trail through the smoke but no one reported it. The fire department didn't get the call until midnight and by then it took four hours to put the fire out.

Earlier this spring I smelled smoke while hiking so I went looking for the source. Three kids had a campfire out at the point. When I asked them what made them think they could have a fire they said, "Well, there was one here before." I really got on there case and made them put it out. Today I told some young ladies that fires were not allowed and she said, "But, there aren't any signs." There are signs at every main entrance that say no campfires.

Despite the few days of rain we are getting right now I know we are in for a very dry summer. Tubbs Hill is very dry already not to mention all of the beautiful forests that surround our city.

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by Walkaboutcda

I wish that was true but there is a certain segment of the population that is stupid about fires. I am constantly finding the remains of campfires on Tubbs Hill. A few days ago people were shooting off fireworks. Not too mention all of the smokers dropping their butts all over the hill. The fire we had last summer was caused by a campfire. I heard later that people were walking by on the trail through the smoke but no one reported it. The fire department didn't get the call until midnight and by then it took four hours to put the fire out.

Earlier this spring I smelled smoke while hiking so I went looking for the source. Three kids had a campfire out at the point. When I asked them what made them think they could have a fire they said, "Well, there was one here before." I really got on there case and made them put it out. Today I told some young ladies that fires were not allowed and she said, "But, there aren't any signs." There are signs at every main entrance that say no campfires.

Despite the few days of rain we are getting right now I know we are in for a very dry summer. Tubbs Hill is very dry already not to mention all of the beautiful forests that surround our city.

I agree. The drunken idiots camping in the forests around here are a big cause for worry. I remember sitting at Cavanuagh's up on Priest Lake one summer and watching helicopters come over and fill their water buckets from the bay to dump on a good sized burn.
One of my biggest worrys was getting our livestock out, particularly the horses in case a fire got out of control.

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by StarrySkiesAbove

Thanks Shaner, Colorado residents are also unfortunately no strangers to wild fires and I would not say that we are "dumb about the matter". The High Park fire last year which burned over 87,000 acres was started by a lightning strike, not much that precautions could have done there. I do think however the rainfall you mentioned and the overall greater ambient humidity in your area helps in keeping fires from becoming raging firestorms to a certain degree.

I would have to say that our relative humidity gets pretty low here in August, the driest month.

[StarrySkiesAbove]

Originally Posted by mistyriver

One of my biggest worrys was getting our livestock out, particularly the horses in case a fire got out of control.

That has been one of the biggest issues from the Black Forest fire. My husband and I helped an animal rescue/horse sanctuary to move their animals out, they sent out a cry for help on Facebook and dozens of people showed up from all over to help them get the horses, dogs, cats, goats, llamas out. When the last of the animals were evacuated, flames were on the property. Unfortunately due to the severity of the fire and the time of day it broke out (early afternoon on a weekday) there were many other homes and ranches that could not get their animals out.

Our neighbor's daughter lost their home, when they were allowed back in to the burn area to see their property yesterday they found a letter on the gate from a fire fighting crew that was in the area, they had buried their two horses for them so they would be spared seeing them. Firefighters are some truly amazing people.

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by StarrySkiesAbove

That has been one of the biggest issues from the Black Forest fire. My husband and I helped an animal rescue/horse sanctuary to move their animals out, they sent out a cry for help on Facebook and dozens of people showed up from all over to help them get the horses, dogs, cats, goats, llamas out. When the last of the animals were evacuated, flames were on the property. Unfortunately due to the severity of the fire and the time of day it broke out (early afternoon on a weekday) there were many other homes and ranches that could not get their animals out.

Our neighbor's daughter lost their home, when they were allowed back in to the burn area to see their property yesterday they found a letter on the gate from a fire fighting crew that was in the area, they had buried their two horses for them so they would be spared seeing them. Firefighters are some truly amazing people.

It is easier now having just two horses and assorted dogs and cats. Much easier to transport quickly.
I think every summer I had some sort of plan in my head. A 4 horse trailer and a 2 horse filled and the miniature horse could ride in the back seat of my pickup with the seat folded down.

Bless you for your help rescuing those animals. What a horrible way for anything to die.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

We have numerous old charred tree stumps on our property as a stark reminder of the Big Burn of 1910. Very sobering--the entire town of Cabinet disappeared as a result, although it is still on the map. Logging came to an end, and so the town (what remained of it) just faded away. And of course it could happen again. What can you do? Keep a defensible space, have metal roofs on all buildings, make sure you have fire insurance (and sign up for fire protection if you're outside of a fire district and the local fire department offers such a thing, like in Clark Fork) and keep your fingers crossed...

Over in Montana where the lodgepole pines have been dying in higher numbers (so far) because of the beetle infestation they're looking at a real nightmare scenario: entire mountainsides of dead pines catching fire. Of course that can easily spread to areas where the trees are still healthy.

Forest/brush fires is the number one natural disaster that threatens us in the West, as far as I'm concerned, and I think only the extreme West Coast can feel somewhat safe, although there was a fire in Los Angeles that almost burned clear to the coast some years ago. We're in inland San Diego County, and we've been evacuated once (and in the rear view mirror we saw the fire burning a mere 300 yards away toward our house as we left, in two cars with our dog and as much as we could stuff into the car of our loose possessions), but our fire fighters made a stand and stopped the fire just down the street. That was the Cedar Creek Fire of 2003 where somewhere around 18 people died in San Diego County, and hundreds of people lost their homes. In 2007 we were sitting on top of our suitcases and stuffed boxes ready to evacuate when they got the fire under control (better local fire protection policies and politics had been developed by then). It leaves psychological scars, even if you and your home escape unharmed. So fire danger is something we take very seriously, in NID as well as SoCal. But should we move elsewhere/not move to/not live in beautiful areas just because life may throw challenges at us? Not likely. There's no such thing as a risk-free life, anywhere. We prepare, keep evacuation lists posted, and hope for the best.