A wildfire that burned hundreds of acres in the Black Hills just west of Rapid City caused at least 400 residents to evacuate their homes.
Gov. Kristi Noem said "there has been losses and that is tragic" at a press conference Monday where she also praised firefighters. Later Monday, residents evacuated from Westberry Trails and Schroeder Road were allowed to return home, according to the Pennington County Sheriff's Office.
Rob Powell, incident commander for the Schroeder Fire, said the wind-driven blaze that started Monday morning just west of Rapid City has possibly destroyed two homes and several outbuildings. In addition, he said the Schroeder Fire had burned 1,900 acres by around 8:30 p.m., "but is still moving." Officials said the fire is "zero percent contained."
Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom said between 400 and 500 homes had been evacuated. Around 250 firefighters were fighting the blaze on a windy afternoon when gusts ranged from around 50 mph to 72 mph in Rapid City.
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Gov. Noem said the fire started on private property, but officials are still investigating the cause. FEMA authorized federal funds on Monday afternoon, according to U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson.
Pennington County Emergency Management reported around 2:30 p.m. that the fire led to the closure of Mount Rushmore National Memorial as crews fought a fire near Keystone. Noem said at the press conference that the fire was not threatening Mount Rushmore at this time. It was reported to be around 75 acres at that time and Noem said it appeared to moving to more remote areas.
At one point, Highway 244 at the west boundary of the park and the Highway 16A entrance at the Keystone and Iron Mountain Boundary was closed.
It was reported that the fire was burning in heavy dead and downed timber with very high potential for spread due to very high winds. The cause was unknown.
Aerial surveillance of the SchrosdervRoad fire. Lots of smoke and high winds. Over 800 acres burned already. pic.twitter.com/ORA7lrBMQc
— Pennington County SO (@PennCoSheriff) March 29, 2021
In the Rapid City area, evacuation orders were issued throughout the day to residents of Dark Canyon Road, Magic Canyon Road, Cleghorn Canyon Road, Pinedale Heights, Nameless Cave Road, Cavern Road and Camp Minneluzahan.
Map of evacuation areas from Schroeder Road fire:
— Pennington County SO (@PennCoSheriff) March 29, 2021
Cleghorn Canyon
Nameless Cave Rd
Cavern Rd
Pinedale Heights
Dark Canyon
Magic Canyon
Blake Rd
Mini Luzahan Camp
Residents can return to Schroeder Road & West Berry Hill Road. Nemo Road is open again after brief closing. pic.twitter.com/KxpEflWfb9
As firefighters battled the Schroeder Fire that first led to evacuations at Westberry Trails, the Keystone fire was reported 1.5 miles southwest of Keystone.
The fire was fueled by the same fierce winds that helped ignite the Schroeder Fire, which started four miles west of Rapid City off Schroeder Road and near Nemo Road.
The Schroeder Road Area Fire 211 was established Monday as a call center the public can contact for more information.
Powerful sustained winds made firefighting difficult. Wind gusts from 72 to 81 mph were reported in the Rapid City area along with sustained gusts of 55 mph.
The forecast should help firefighters.
Northwest winds are expected to drop to between 30 and 45 miles per hour Tuesday, with the higher wind speeds in east Rapid City, according to meteorologist Matthew Bunkers of the National Weather Service in Rapid City. By Wednesday, winds should be down to 10 to 15 miles per hour in the Black Hills.
“Humidity is going to be low so … we’re going to stay dry, but the winds will be diminishing gradually so that’s definitely good news,” he said.