August 11, 2017

The National Fire Preparedness Level (PL) has been raised to its highest point, PL-5. The PL ranges from one, indicating minimal activity, to five, which signals very high activity. The last time that the National PL was raised to 5 was on August 13, 2015. Lightning activity over the past couple of days has increased dramatically south and east of the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests, but possible thunderstorms are in the forecast for the forest for the weekend. In addition, Stage 1 Fire Restrictions are in effect in the Grangeville Fire Restrictions Area, Riverbreaks and Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. Visitors are encouraged to Know before you go – Fire and closure information is posted on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests website atwww.fs.usda.gov/nezperceclearwater. Information on fire restrictions across the state is located at http://www.idahofireinfo.com/.

Forest and Fire Management Staff considered the long-term effects of smoke in their decision to manage fires in the wilderness and roadless areas. Fire managers are working with air quality specialists to monitor smoke and potential impacts to communities. In addition to smoke impacts, values at risk, availability of resources, and location were considered in determining suppression actions of fires not threatening communities.

For current air quality in Idaho, please visit http://www.deq.idaho.gov/…/bur…/current-wildfire-smoke-info/ and for Montana http://svc.mt.gov/…/today…/smokereport/mostrecentupdate.aspx .