Fire forces hundreds from Tubbs Hill
David Cole | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years, 11 months AGO
<p>A helicopter with a 200 gallon bucket brings water to pour along the north edge of the Tubbs Hill fire on Saturday evening.</p>
<p>A helicopter with a 200 gallon bucket brings water to pour along the north edge of the Tubbs Hill fire on Saturday evening.</p>
<p>A helicopter with a 200 gallon bucket brings water to pour along the north edge of the Tubbs Hill fire on Saturday evening.</p>
<p>Don Bates sprays the north west edge of the Tubbs Hill fire on Saturday evening.</p>
<p>Mike Fredrick takes a break from digging a trench around the perimeter of the Tubbs Hill fire on Saturday evening.</p>
<p>Two Coeur d'Alene Fire Department fire fighters watch as flames reach upwards of 20 feet in some places at the Tubbs Hill fire on Saturday evening.</p>
<p>Two Coeur d'Alene Fire Department fire fighters dig a trench around the perimeter of the fire in an attempt to contain the blaze and prevent it from moving west down toward the main trail on Tubbs Hill.</p>
<p>At 7:00 p.m. on Saturday evening, approximately 5 acres had already burnt in the Tubbs Hill fire.</p>
<p>The Coeur d'Alene Fire Department was dispatched to a fire on Tubbs hill at approximately 3:45 on Saturday afternoon.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Hundreds of people had to leave Tubbs Hill on Saturday afternoon after a roughly 5-acre wildfire broke out in dry and windy conditions around 3 p.m.
Fire officials called in a helicopter which repeatedly filled up a scoop in Lake Coeur d'Alene and dropped water on the blaze, which was burning on the west side of the hill.
No injuries were reported and no structures were damaged. As of 7 p.m., the fire was 75 percent contained, and fire officials expected it to be fully contained by the end of the night.
The cause hadn't been officially determined.
"We do have something that we need to have the police take as evidence," said Coeur d'Alene Fire Department Deputy Chief Glenn Lauper.
More than 40 firefighters were on the hill at one point Saturday afternoon.
Lauper said wind blowing from the south and west blew the fire uphill in the direction of the summit.
He said the fire was burning in the area where goats had eaten some brush in a fire fuel reduction effort.
"We're hoping that's the area it was going to," Lauper said. "That would break up that fuel ladder between the brush and trees."
He wasn't sure if any trees burned, but some trees had to be dropped in the firefighting effort.
Another helicopter was called in later to scan the hill for hotspots, using an infrared system.
Access to some trails on the hill might be restricted today because of the blaze.
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