HAYDEN — Chet and Judy Wolniakowski were doing everything they could to prepare for the worst on Thursday night as the work of an arsonist approached their Hayden home.

“I was gathering up our pets while Chet was helping neighbors stomp out embers that were falling in their yard,” Judy said.

Since June 28, firefighters from Northern Lakes Fire District and Kootenai County Fire and Rescue have responded to 15 human-caused fires within a quarter-mile radius of the intersection of 15th Street and Woodland Drive. Thursday at 8:38 p.m., a couple heading up Sundown Road to watch the summer lightning storm saw the beginnings of what would become a 10,000-square-foot fire on a hill near the intersection with Grandview Road and called 911.

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