Man drowns after falling from boat
A boater drowned on Lake Coeur d’Alene on Friday night after he fell overboard and his wife was unable to save him, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said.
The couple were on their boat in the Carlin Bay area when the man fell into the water, Capt. Ben Wolfinger said in a press release.
The wife threw her husband a rope, but he let go and went below the surface of the water, the release said.
Sheriff’s divers searched the lake, but they were hindered by poor visibility because of spring runoff and the 100-foot depth of the lake in the area, Wolfinger said.
The search ended Friday night.
The identity of the couple will be released later.
– Staff reports
Burn season near for federal lands
Smoke will be puffing out of national forests in coming days as spring burning season begins. The U.S. Forest Service hopes to burn at least 8,000 acres in the Inland Northwest by the middle of May, weather conditions permitting.
Conducted each spring, the prescribed burns help reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire later in the season, said Tom Weinmann, fire management officer for the Colville National Forest’s Three Rivers Ranger District.
The fires also help clear logging slash and boost forage for deer and elk.
Between 600 and 800 acres in the Coeur d’Alene area will be burned, including in the Coeur d’Alene Mountain area near Hayden Lake, on the hillsides above Fernan Lake and in the Canfield-Nettleton Gulch areas, according to the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.
The Forest Service does not set exact times for the burns because the operations are heavily dependent on the weather, Weinmann said.
Planners determine optimal conditions using a variety of tools, including computer programs, custom-tailored weather forecasts and fuel moisture meters.
“Sometimes we only have a one-day burn window,” Weinmann said. “You’ve really got to be on the mark and in the right place at the right time.”
Most burning is finished by the middle of May.
Among the burns planned for the Colville National Forest are 416 acres in the Burnt Valley near Chewelah and two fires east of Addy, Wash., aimed at increasing elk habitat.
– James Hagengruber