Fire forces evacuations near Moscow

A fast-moving wildfire forced the evacuation of at least 10 houses Tuesday afternoon eight miles north of Moscow, Idaho.

The homes are located in the area of 1330 Cheney Road, near Viola, a small community along U.S. Highway 95 between Potlatch and Moscow, according to Detective Jennifer McFarland, with the Latah County Sheriff’s Department.

As of Tuesday night, none of the houses had burned, and the fire was contained at 130 acres.

The fire was reported at 3:19 p.m. Tuesday. Within two hours, the blaze had grown to 130 acres. Its cause remains unknown, McFarland said.

The fire spread to the northeast toward the Ball Butte area, she said. U.S. 95 remained open.

Several other scattered wildfires in North Idaho continue to burn.

The Ulm Peak fire in the Bitterroot Mountains about 15 miles north of Prichard has burned about 1,800 acres since it was sparked by lightning nearly three weeks ago. The fire was listed as 20 percent contained.

Northwest of Priest Lake, two smaller fires merged Monday. The Hughes fire has burned about 2,678 acres and also was listed as 20 percent contained. None of the fires is threatening any houses.

In Washington, at least 92,000 acres and seven structures have been burned near Dayton because of a lightning-caused fire. Crews have been attempting to conduct controlled burns on the western edge of the Columbia Complex of fires to widen fire lines, according to a statement issued by the team managing the firefighting effort. This work was hampered, however, when firefighters had to respond to 15 new lightning strikes in the area. The fires were listed as 35 percent contained.

The Tripod Complex of fires in northcentral Washington continued to grow and has now blackened 161,111 acres.