Alabaugh fire reached 8,912 acres Monday night

By Ryan Woodard, Journal staff | Tuesday, July 10, 2007

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RAPID CITY -- A light rain helped crews make progress on the Alabaugh Fire on Sunday night and Monday morning, but the fire became worse in the dry heat Monday afternoon.

Gusting winds and temperatures in the 90s caused the Alabaugh Fire to jump a containment line Monday afternoon and increase to 8,912 acres by Monday night, according to fire officials.

Joe Lowe, coordinator of the state Wildland Fire Suppression Division, said crews made good progress on the fire Sunday night and Monday morning.

"That enabled the night shift crews to go out and really hit it hard, and make some good forward progress on the fire," he said.

But the fire roared back Monday afternoon, breaking a containment line near Payne Canyon, according to fire information officer Larry Helmerick, and running farther in areas that had not been contained.

Lowe said he expected the fire to get worse Monday afternoon once the clouds from the previous night's rain disappeared. 

"When the cloud cover went away, we knew that we were going to get wind, heat and lower relative humidities, and that the fire would basically try to make runs at the control lines," Lowe said.

Crews continued to battle the blaze Monday afternoon, doing structure protection, mopping up areas that had been contained and working other parts of the fire.

The Alabaugh Fire, which is burning in ponderosa pine and grass southwest of Hot Springs, destroyed about 30 homes, injured two firefighters and caused one fatality as of Monday evening, according to a news release from the Northern Great Plains Interagency Dispatch Center.

The names of the injured firefighters have not been released and may not be, according to Black Hills National Forest public information officer Frank Carroll.

Lightning started the fire at 7:44 p.m. Saturday evening in Alabaugh Canyon, west of S.D. Highway 71.

The fire has driven almost 100 residents from more than 50 homes in the picturesque area along the highway, from Hot Springs southwest to Cascade Falls.

The fire remained at 20 percent containment Monday evening, and crews managed to tie up fire lines on the eastern and southeastern part of the fire. Areas to the west were of greater concern.

Operations chief Rob Powell said he didn't have any "immediate" concern about the blaze reaching any more structures as of Monday afternoon, unless a major wind shift occurred.

Thunderstorm activity was predicted for Monday evening. Lowe didn't predict how that might affect firefighting Monday night. He said firefighters were just trying to make steady progress on a fire that has been hot and dangerous. 

"Tonight, I think we're continuing to make progress," he said. "It's not a fast process because of the fire and weather factors that are out there," he said. "Every afternoon, the wind comes up and causes us concern."

Fire officials blame the ongoing drought for the fire's intensity.

"It's extreme," fire information officer Beth Hermanson said. "Fuel moistures are as low as we've seen them in South Dakota."

Hermanson said firefighters battling the Alabaugh Fire, some of whom have 15 to 25 years of experience in firefighting, have not seen fire behavior like the Alabaugh's.

"You see this type of behavior in California," she said. 

Fire information officer Larry Helmerick said the fuels are so dry that "any type of ignition source has a potential to start a big fire."

The Mueller Center in Hot Springs has been set up as a place for citizens to receive information about the fire and for victims to receive assistance.

The Red Cross is providing victims with debit cards that will work nationally.

In addition, banks in Hot Springs have set up accounts named "Alabaugh Fire Account" to collect donations for the victims.

And the American Legion is accepting furniture donations at the legion warehouse in Hot Springs, according to Mayor Carl Oberlitner.

More than 400 firefighters have been committed to the fire, as well as four helicopters, three single-engine air tankers, 90 engines and nine hand crews.

The agencies fighting the fire include the state of South Dakota, Fall River and Custer counties, Bureau of Land Management, Department of Corrections, Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service as well as local fire departments and others.

Pine Shadows, Black Hills Flyway and the Sheps Canyon subdivisions have been evacuated. Precautionary evacuations include Old Highway 18 to Chilson Canyon.

Fire officials say they are waiting to see what the fire weather does before deciding whether to let people back into their houses.

Highway 71 is still closed, beginning a half mile south of Hot Springs to the Cheyenne River. It is not known when the closure will be lifted.

All of the roads and trails within the fire perimeter are still closed.

Contact Ryan Woodard at 394-8412 or ryan.woodard@rapidcityjournal.com

For video from the third day of the Alabaugh Canyon Fire near Hot Springs, click here

For photos from the fire, click here