As the dry conditions continue in South Dakota, a number of wildland and grassland fires have fired up across the state. The Black Hills have been especially hit hard and numerous fires have been reported.
This fire, 650 Fire, was reported Saturday morning in the central, Black Hills on Forest Service Road 650 south of Rapid City and about 10 miles off U.S. Highway 16.
Photo Credit: Johnson Siding Volunteer Fire Department - 650 Fire
Fire crews from different federal, state, and local volunteer fire departments were called to this fire, battling dry conditions and steep terrain.
By Saturday afternoon, the Great Plains Fire Information reported a couple of acres have burned and the fire was about 50 percent contained. Aids from a helicopter and dozer have been called as well.
Photo Credit: Rockerville Volunteer Fire Department - 650 Fire
By the early afternoon, another fire erupted near the Rolling Hills and the Nemo Road in the central, Black Hills. About two to three acres of land have been burned and firefighters from around were dispatched.
Photo Credit: Black Hawk Volunteer Fire Department - Rolling Hills Fire
Photo Credit: Johnson Siding Volunteer Fire Department - Rolling Hills Fire
Out in the eastern regions of the state, local fire departments have been busy as well. The Estelline Fire Department in the northeast, South Dakota posted these pictures of a grass fire on Saturday afternoon on their Facebook page.
Photo Credit: Estelline Volunteer Fire Department
Photo Credit: Estelline Volunteer Fire Department
The agency commented on their Facebook page that they were appreciated of their volunteers as the agency had been paged out a couple of times on Saturday.
Days like today we sure appreciate our volunteers! Shortly after getting cleaned up from a couple calls today our guys were paged out for another grass fire. None hesitated to answer the call and quickly jumped back into the rigs to spend another few hours dragging hose. It was a tiresome day but good as our crew all returned safely.
Estelline Volunteer Fire Department
March 27th, 2022
Dry conditions are expected to remain for the rest of the weekend and into the first part of the workweek. A storm system is in the forecast to bring some precipitation into the state, hopefully by Tuesday into the middle part of the week.
