COEUR d’ALENE  — Firefighters battling the Nettleton Gulch blaze currently have a line around the fire area and are working contain it, Mary Fritz of the Department of Lands said Tuesday.

After remapping the fire, the IDL is reporting the actual affected area is 38 acres with 15% currently contained.

"We have 100 personnel on that fire and we hope to start seeing some containment," Fritz said.

She noted that IDL and wildland firefighters always take fires seriously, but this one has been especially important to local firefighting efforts after shooting suspect Wess Roley fired on local firefighters responding to the blaze, killing two and wounding one.

"The difficulty we're facing up there is the difficulty of the terrain. Safety is a big priority and 60% slopes up there and footing is very difficult. The flathead hotshots came in to work on removing some of the snags," Fritz said.

Crews continued to install hose lays and set up access to water for the fire perimeter to work toward containment Tuesday.  

"We're hoping, we're hoping," Fritz said. "We're very fortunate that way that we have the tools, the people that we need to work on this fire right now."

Four falling modules were on site today to mitigate snag hazards. And five engines, two water tenders, two 20-person hand crews and one hotshot crew also assisted with firefighting efforts. 

Two Type1 helicopters and one Type2 helicopter conducted waterdrops throughout the day and interagency partners, including county, city, state and federal resources, have been critical to the fire suppression response, Fritz said. 

Fritz urged financial support to local firefighting efforts at Kootenai County Fire and Rescue and Couer d'Alene Fire Department through donations to https://redbluefoundation.org/donations.

If folks out of the goodness of their heart want to contribute, Fritz recommends donations to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation at https://wffoundation.org/.

All Forest Service lands, roads and trails west of Fernan Road (FSR 268), all FS lands, roads and trails west of FSR 1525 and south of Yellow Banks Creek and all FS lands roads, and trails south of Hayden Lake are closed for firefighter safety and access.  

The closure does not include FSR 268 or 1535.