Hot Springs, S.D. – Rain and cooler temperatures slowed a wildfire that had raced out of a canyon, destroyed at least 30 houses and killed a homeowner who went back to try to save his belongings, a top fire official said Monday.
The change in weather gave crews a chance to shore up fire lines, although conditions could shift again for the worse, state wildland fire coordinator Joe Lowe told firefighters at a briefing Monday held in light rain.
“This fire is not over yet,” he cautioned. “This fire could come back to life again.”
The blaze was started by lightning Saturday, and by Monday, it had covered about 11 square miles just southwest of Hot Springs, on the southern side of the Black Hills. It was 20 percent contained, and crews expected to have it fully contained by Thursday. A state highway that cuts through the fire area remained closed Monday.
Among the evacuees taking shelter at a Hot Springs community center was Mary Goulet, who said she and her husband didn’t realize the seriousness of the situation until it was almost too late. She said she called 911 when fire surrounded the house.
“The flames burned our cars, and we couldn’t get out,” she said. Then a firefighter in protective gear appeared at their door and led them to his firetruck and a safe escape, she said. It wasn’t clear whether their house survived.
Other fires blackened the landscape in California, Utah, Nevada, Washington, Colorado, Montana and Oregon, many of them also started by lightning and fueled by dry conditions, made worse by a heat wave that sizzled across the West last week.
In addition to the death in South Dakota, smoke from a major Utah fire was blamed for two deaths in a weekend motorcycle accident.
Crews in California’s eastern Sierra Nevada gained ground against a fire that had charred at least 37,000 acres, or 58 square miles, in the Inyo National Forest.
That fire was 55 percent contained Monday after cooler temperatures and lighter winds allowed firefighters to make their first real progress, forestry officials said.
But a 12-square-mile wildfire burning in the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California had expanded into dry brush and steep hills of the nearby San Rafael Wilderness Area, Santa Barbara County Fire Captain Eli Iskow said Monday.
In Utah, firefighters won a small victory over a massive wildfire Monday, getting the 468-square-mile blaze 10 percent contained thanks to low winds and increased resources.
Hundreds of firefighters have arrived to fight the Milford Flat Fire, buffering a crew of just 109 that had worked the lightning-sparked inferno since Friday. Said to be the largest fire in Utah history, it is currently the nation’s No. 2 priority wildfire, having raced through 300,000 acres of extremely dry sagebrush, cheat grass and piñon juniper.
While fire crews worked, Mike Rutherford spent the day sifting through the remains of his Dog Valley Trading Post, an old log cabin where he sold American Indian crafts to travelers near historic Cove Fort. He had no insurance on his $50,000 inventory.
“All we could find were some handmade knives – well, the blades anyway – and some pottery,” Rutherford, 59, said by phone from Kanosh.
