South Dakota Fire Expands; Rain Aids Park

An arson forest fire that has burned into the western edges of Rapid City in South Dakota expanded and switched direction Thursday and hundreds of homes were ordered evacuated for the second time in a week.

“It’s out of control. It has expanded drastically since I was there last evening,” Gov. George S. Mickelson said.

In Wyoming, rain dampened a major blaze in Yellowstone National Park, and the area around Old Faithful was declared out of danger. Fires inside Yellowstone had charred 95,135 acres by Thursday morning, about 4% of the park’s 2.2 million acres.

Fires also burned in Alaska, Montana, Idaho and California.

Three subdivisions in western Rapid City were ordered evacuated as a precaution as wind whipped a fire in the heavily forested Black Hills. Fire officials said hundreds of homes were threatened.

“It’s almost being defended totally by air at the present time because it is in those canyons, and the ground crews simply cannot fight the fire,” Mickelson said.

The wind switched from the southeast to the north during the morning and gained speed, he said. That, combined with a forecast high of 100 degrees, “does not bode well for fighting the fire,” the governor said.

The fire had been declared 70% contained Thursday after burning an estimated 2,800 acres, and about half of the 1,000 people who were told to leave their homes Wednesday were allowed to return.

Fifteen homes, 33 outbuildings, 18 vehicles and a bridge had been destroyed by Thursday evening. Property losses were put well above $1 million.

Don Kopp, the fire incident commander, said the fire was the work of an arsonist and that authorities have been investigating a series of about 50 fires dating back to May that are believed to have been started by the same person.

There were 51 wind-whipped fires burning across Alaska; firefighters were battling only 16 of them.