A spate of high temperatures combined with kindle dry forest fuels this week have firefighters across Idaho’s Panhandle on high alert.

All public lands in the Panhandle’s five northern counties will be under a Stage 1 alert beginning Thursday, which means all fires including camp or stove fires are prohibited except in Forest Service developed recreation sites. Smoking is also prohibited except in an enclosed vehicle or building, or in specific developed recreation sites, according to the Forest Service.

Lands managed by Idaho Fish and Game have been in Stage 1 restrictions since Aug. 2.

The latest heatwave, which has squeezed the mercury in parts of North Idaho and includes forecasted temperatures around 100 degrees Thursday in the Panhandle National Forest, helped set the stage for a new Panhandle fire earlier this week.

“That one near Bonners Ferry has been put out. It was around a tenth of an acre,” said fire information officer Anne Rys-Sikora, of the Forest Service.

So far, eight fires are uncontained, burning more than 1,200 acres in the Panhandle, Rys-Sikora said.

The Cougar Fire burning in 600 acres of steep terrain north of Hope is the Panhandle’s biggest blaze. The 375-acre Smith Creek Fire on Abandon Mountain between Upper Priest Lake and Bonners Ferry is the second largest. Others include the 75-acre Copper Mountain Fire north of Bonners Ferry, along the U.S. and Canada border.

Fire managers from Bonners Ferry are working with Canadian firefighters to stem the blaze, Rys-Sikora said.

“Air Support and ground crews from both countries are on scene,” she said Monday.

A 30-acre burn at Quartz Creek, 6 miles north of Forest Road 50 in the St. Joe Forest, a 27-acre fire at Slide Creek near Bonners Ferry and a 103-acre alpine fire north of Caribou Lake — northwest of Sandpoint, are also uncontained.

At 87 acres, the Rampike Fire burning in remote country east of the Coeur d’Alene River Road along Shoshone Creek is the largest of the fires in the Coeur d’Alene Ranger District.

Fires have prompted trail closures and hikers are asked to inquire before heading into the woods near Hope, where 12 trails have been closed because of the Cougar Fire.

Pat Riley, chief of Northern Lakes Fire, said his agency will coordinate efforts to promptly report to the public any fires in the Northern Lakes area.

“The Northern Lakes Fire District would like to assure our residents that getting immediate and accurate information out to those directly impacted is a top priority,” Riley said.

A faux pas in efforts to alert residents during fires near Coeur d’Alene last week prompted criticism, he said.

“The delay in getting pertinent information out to the public regarding last week’s multiple fires was unacceptable and a disservice to residents living in the immediate areas,” Riley said.