Copper King Fire Evacuations Could End on Monday
On paper, it may not look like much has changed at the Copper King Fire near Thompson Falls. The fire is still at around 27,000 acres and containment is still at 20 percent, but Fire information officer Dixie Dies says homeowners will likely be let back into the evacuation zones soon.
"We are getting closer and closer to revising that, probably Sunday or Monday," said Dies. "Areas have calmed down on the north side and somewhat on the east side. Residents have been allowed to go back in under the condition that they really need to be still prepared to go. Literally as every day progresses it is getting better."
Dies says recent weather has made it difficult for the fire to grow. It has even been difficult for firefighters to conduct burnout operations.
"The last couple of days we had such an inversion up here that there wasn't much fire behavior," Dies said. "There was enough of an inversion and a little higher humidity and lower temperatures. It kind of hampered from burning operations since."
Dies says that evacuations zones aren’t the only things that will be reevaluated early next week, some closed roads and public lands may be reopened as well.