Lead flees flare-ups (Black Hills South Dakota fire PHOTOS)

Rapid City Journal ^ | 7-1-02 | Journal Staff and AP

[petuniasevan]

Lead flees flare ups

By Dan Daly, Journal Staff Writer

Residents in a broad swath of Lead were asked to voluntarily evacuate their homes late Sunday when the Grizzly Gulch Fire flared up along its western edge. The new evacuation involved areas south of Lead's Main Street and the areas north of Main Street that are east of Washington Street, Brenda Bower, information officer with the U.S. Forest Service, said. That's about two-thirds of the city. Gov. Bill Janklow ordered the evacuation Sunday afternoon.

The new evacuees joined thousands of people from Deadwood and rural areas east and south who had to flee the fire on Saturday. The blaze nearly burned its way into Deadwood, but an army of firefighters kept the flames out of town overnight. Sunday afternoon, however, brought new challenges to the fire crews. Shifting winds spawned a number of flare-ups along Strawberry Hill and U.S. 385 near Lead, said Maj. Mark Johnston, a public-affairs officer for the South Dakota National Guard called in to help with the fire. Shifting wind can sometimes help firefighters, because it can push the flames back into areas where the fuel has already burned. But Sunday's wind shift forced the evacuation of much of Lead.

At 6 a.m. today, a federal Type I Incident Management Team is expected to take control of fire-fighting efforts. The team is a specialized group of fire managers with the experience and resources to fight the biggest and most dangerous blazes. Before that, South Dakota's new Wildland Fire Suppression Division was in charge.

The official toll as of Sunday: 4,500 acres of timber and eight structures destroyed, including at least two homes. One firefighter suffered a minor injury to his arm. State and federal officials brought in seven heavy air tankers, six bulldozers, more than 325 people and scores of fire engines from all over the region.

Lloyd Siemonsma and Chad Rotert, firefighters from the Renner Fire Department near Sioux Falls, were on their way back from the big wildfire in Durango, Colo., when they got the call to report to Deadwood. They hadn't been home in 10 days, Siemonsma said Sunday morning. He was directing Rotert and other firefighters tending hillside flare-ups above the Thunder Cove Inn at the south edge of Deadwood. Siemonsma wasn't sure how long he would be fighting the Grizzly Gulch Fire. "I won't be here the duration," he said. "I've got hay to put up."

There was no word Sunday afternoon on when the evacuees would be able to return to their homes and businesses. Joe Lowe, South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression Division coordinator, said the decision to let people back in will likely be made by the Type I Team. "I know homeowners are anxious to get back in. ... But the worst thing that could happen is to let people get back in and have this fire turn around on us," he said. Lowe also said he understands that Deadwood's tourism-based economy is taking a beating, but the top priorities are to keep firefighters safe, keep the public safe and to protect structures. Lowe said bulldozers were cutting a fire line around the southern and eastern flanks of the fire. He hoped to have the line completed sometime Sunday. After that, the challenge will be to hold the fire within the lines. Bulldozers did indeed complete the fire line — between U.S. 385 and Forest Service Road 172 to U.S. 14A — on Sunday, Johnston confirmed. But as of 8 p.m. Sunday, there was no estimate of when the fire would be officially contained or controlled.

The fire broke out about 2 p.m. Saturday in the Grizzly Gulch area south of Lead. The cause is still under investigation. It quickly moved north and east, jumping across U.S. Highway 385 south of Pluma and burned along Strawberry Hill toward Deadwood. By Saturday evening, Deadwood's normally bustling Main Street was nearly deserted. Flames and smoke poured from the ridge overlooking Deadwood. Fire crews scrambled to protect homes as the flames crept to within a few yards of the uppermost homes. There were reports that the fire burned into Mount Moriah Cemetery, but on Sunday afternoon, the historic cemetery appeared to be unburned. On Sunday morning, the fire line in Deadwood appeared much calmer. Crews tended smoldering spots on the charred hillsides. Slurry bombers could be seen making regular drops along the fire's eastern edge just south of U.S. Highway 14A through Boulder Canyon.

State officials deemed the situation serious enough Sunday to make the evacuation mandatory for residents of Deadwood and areas south of Boulder Canyon, west of the Vanocker Canyon road to Nemo, east of U.S. Highway 385, Brownsville and Nemo. Fire officials also asked residents north of Brownsville Road and west of Yellow Creek Road to voluntarily evacuate — and prepare for a possible mandatory evacuation.

The Black Hills Area Chapter of the American Red Cross has established two temporary shelters for the evacuees. The shelters are in the Donald E. Young Center at Black Hills State University in Spearfish and Surbeck Center at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City. The Salvation Army sent mobile disaster units from Watertown and Sioux City to help firefighters and evacuees. During a briefing among various agencies involved in the fire Sunday afternoon, officials said that when the evacuation order is lifted, it may be done in stages to keep the return orderly. Residents would likely be allowed in first, then business people, then hotel residents and others.

Bob and Cindy McNeill, who fled their home on Echo Mountain Place east of Deadwood Saturday night, got a brief chance to return home Sunday afternoon. Cindy McNeill is general manager of KEVN-TV in Rapid City, and they tagged along on a media tour through their neighborhood. Their house was spared, although the flames came close to their neighborhood. Smiling broadly, Cindy McNeill surveyed her back yard. "Now ask me, do I feel lucky?" she said. "We really, really expected to lose our house." A short distance away, a crew from Hill City tended hot spots just above the Dale Stoneberger home. Near the garage was a decorative wishing well bearing the sign: "Wishes Come True." And they did for the Stoneberger family. Just a few yards up the hill, burning stumps were still smoldering at midday Sunday. But the house itself, separated from the nearby underbrush by a strip of green grass, did not burn.

Black Hills Power & Light crews will need to restore electrical power to Deadwood and the Boulder Canyon area east of town. The fire on Saturday wiped out a major 69-kilovolt power line that serves the Lead-Deadwood area, company spokeswoman Barbara Thirstrup said. At least four of the H-shaped power poles burned, knocking out power to the whole area. She said the utility managed to reroute power from the Trojan substation, restoring some electrical service to Lead and to emergency teams in Deadwood. But she said Lead residents were asked to use power sparingly until full service can be restored. Thirstrup estimated that power would be restored to the city of Deadwood by midnight Sunday. Two-Bit Road and the top of Boulder Canyon, however, could take a couple of days. A Black Hills FiberCom hub station suffered little damage, she added, and crews are already working to restore service.

The Grizzly Gulch Fire was the first large-scale test of the South Dakota Department of Agriculture's new Wildland Fire Suppression Division. After the 2000 Jasper Fire in the Southern Hills, Janklow said communication and coordination could have been better. His administration created the new division and hired Lowe, a California fire veteran, to head the new division and run its Rapid City Fire Center. "I think my folks in the Wildland Fire Suppression Division did a wonderful job," Lowe said Sunday morning. Because of the nationwide spate of fires, fire bosses didn't have all the crews and equipment they needed. All of the fire departments and agencies came together quickly Saturday and kept the fire out of Deadwood, he said. "This fire should have taken out a lot of Deadwood, but it didn't," he said.

[petuniasevan]

Downtown Deadwood could hardly been seen from U.S. Highway 85
at mid-afternoon Sunday because of smoke settling in from the fires.
(Journal photo by Dick Kettlewell)

Thadd Turner evacuates horses Saturday from the Days of '76 Museum and rodeo grounds.
Turner, who took his horses to Seven Downs Arena at Spearfish, is staying in Spearfish
until it is safe to return to Deadwood.
(Photo by Tanya Turner)

Smoke streams out of Grizzly Gulch across Lead and north beyond the Open Cut.
Firefighters at sunset Sunday concentrated tanker drops on a spot fire east of the Open Cut
and another fire moving up from Kirk Road just south of the Yates Shaft head frame at the former Homestake Mine.
Because of the fire threat, officials urged evacuation of most of Lead.
Warner Images/Tom Warner

Flames continue Sunday on the charred remains of a tree just off Boulder Canyon Road.
Almost everything else on the hillside was destroyed.
(Journal photo by Dick Kettlewell)

This home just off the Boulder Canyon Road narrowly escaped destruction as firefighters
stopped the blaze within 20 feet of the back door.
(Journal photo by Dick Kettlewell)

[KantianBurke]

poor horse. I remember seeing one that was so afraid of fire and the smell of ash that you weren't supposed to smoke near it as she'd go nuts otherwise

[SoDak]

Hopefully the Daschle-Johnson blaze can be controlled with no loss of life or property.

[NativeNewYorker]

It's pretty clear this is partisan.

I mean, there were no high profile fires in the home state of an oppostion Senate leader under Clinton.

/sarcasm

[petuniasevan]

Firefighters had to negotiate rugged terrain to
suppress hot spots like this one just
overlooking the town of Deadwood on Sunday.
(Journal photo by Dick Kettlewell)

A slurry bomber flies through murky skies
over an American flag waving at Mount
Moriah Cemetery on Saturday evening as
fire threatens Deadwood. The photo was
taken from William's Street, and was
submitted by Linda Lichens, whose house in
the President's Neighborhood narrowly
escaped the flames.

Progression of a fire

A tower of flame above the homes near the Days of 76 rodeo grounds signals the Grizzly Gulch Fire's march on Spruce Gulch Saturday afternoon. The flames rapidly grew up the hillside overlooking Ferguson Field, and soon flared 100 or more feet above White Rock Peak. By nightfall, the fire still burned intensely.

[SoDak]

Do you know, are they asking for volunteers out there?

[petuniasevan]

This aerial photo looks down on Deadwood
early Saturday evening as fire ranges around the town.
Deadwood Gulch Resort is at right and
Lower Deadwood at left.
(Photo courtesy of Tom Warner)

A smoke plume from the Grizzly Gulch Fire
could be seen for more than 100 miles and was
moving over Bear Butte and Sturgis in this aerial
photo taken about 8 p.m. Saturday.
(Courtesy photo by Tom Warner)

A smoke plume from the Grizzly Gulch Fire
could be seen for more than 100 miles and was
moving over Bear Butte and Sturgis in this photo.
(Photo courtesy of Tom Warner)

In this view from U.S. Highway 85 at sundown,
the fire can be seen cresting a hilltop
overlooking the town of Deadwood.
(Journal photo by Dick Kettlewell)

Flames and smoke were in the trees
just above Northern Hills General Hospital
in Deadwood by late afternoon.
(Journal photo by Dick Kettlewell)

[petuniasevan]

I don't know. The news radio station that's supposed to have streaming audio isn't online - broken link. I heard that the cell phone transmissions and regular phones were jammed with calls so communications are spotty at best.

Maybe your local Red Cross or Salvation Army would know.

[Slip18]

"(Journal photo by Dick Kettlewell)"

Great photo postings, petuniaseven!

[petuniasevan]

FIRE PING!

[petuniasevan]

Thanks! BTW, the town of Lead is pronounced "LEED", as in a lead (ore vein) of gold.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Have they found the cause? If they mentioned it, I missed it.

[petuniasevan]

I have heard that it was lightning-caused.

[phasma proeliator]

"under investigation".

don't think that they've had time or resources to look at it yet. - there was lightning on Friday night move through.

[phasma proeliator]

The last I knew (today) the forest service had not listed a cause.

[phasma proeliator]

By the way - nice job on covering this fire.

[colorado tanker]

First Deadwood and now Lead. This is so sad. The Black Hills are just a jewel, one of the prettiest places on Earth.

We have smoke again today in Denver - they say its from the northern fires.

[phasma proeliator]

http://stone.cidi.org/wildfire /

Daily reports....

[petuniasevan]

Thanks! My sis-in-law lives in Sturgis and knows several evacuees.

This hits home, I must say. I'm from California and know the danger all too well.

See my newest post on the fire, People emerge from fire with stories (Black Hills SD).

[phasma proeliator]

If you haven't seen this - it's a pretty nice site - with lots of pictures. I wouldn't say "good" because of their theme but...

http://142.163.108.157/nifc/ma in.jsp?screenwidth=1024&ip 2=0/