HAYDEN LAKE — The current fire danger level at Hayden Lake sits at moderate.  

Now, drivers and residents passing by the intersection of Sportsman Park Road and Hayden Lake Road in Hayden Lake can track the danger level with a new sign from the Idaho Department of Lands. 

Smokey Bear made an appearance to celebrate the unveiling of the new sign on Tuesday. It is located on Tim Howell’s property, and he’ll help keep the sign up to date throughout the year. 

“It’s an honor to be able to accommodate it,” Howell said.  

The sign is the latest in a partnership between Northern Lakes Fire Protection District, IDL and Firewise.  

Five years ago, Karen Hayes and Tammy Pearson founded the East of Hayden Lake Firewise Community with 15 homes signed up to work with the Northern Lake Fire Protection District to protect them from wildfires.   

Today, about 350 homes participate in the fire safety program. 

“One of the benefits of being in this community is each house learns how to fortify their home better,” Hayes said. “Each time that they do something that makes them safer, they may not think about this, but they’ve also made their neighbor safer.” 

Seth Hamilton of IDL Mica Forest Protective District said the community group has put in a lot of time and effort to expand the program and get more protection for homes in the area.  

“It’s very crucial. Firewise makes our jobs easier to build resilience in the community,” Hamilton said. 

Last summer, the group added a sign to the intersection of Upper and Lower Hayden Lake roads.   

“We just want to make sure that the people that come out this way or are living here know about Firewise and know they can call us up to become members,” Pearson said.  

Hayden Lake residents wishing to join are asked to contact Pearson at 208-772-1699. 

Members then set up appointments with the fire marshal for an assessment to see how home protections can be strengthened. 

“The goal is to show how we can make Hayden Lake proper safe against wildfires with benefits that are far reaching,” Northern Lakes Fire District Fire Marshal Tyler Drechsel said. 

Because wildfires can be devastating to the local watershed, he said programs like Firewise build protections brick by brick for the whole community to become safer. 

Right now, the lower temperatures and rain have improved the current fire danger outlook. 

“It’s helped us green things up. Vegetation grew at a pretty rapid pace and right now the predictions from the National Weather Service are calling for warmer than average temperatures and less than average rainfall,” Drechsel said. 

He noted that those circumstances won’t last long. 

“Through the remainder of the season, they’ve predicted that early July we’re back up in the 80s again consistently for the next 10 days,” Drechsel said.  

    Northern Lakes Fire Protection District and the Idaho Department of Lands unveiled a new fire danger sign on Tuesday at the intersection of Sportsman Park Road and Hayden Lake Road in Hayden Lake. From left to right: Dusty Weeks, Smokey Bear, Tyler Drechsel, Seth Hamilton and Sean McClintick.