It has the drama of a Hollywood thriller.

The embers from an innocent burn escape during a warm and windy fall afternoon. A fire ensues and travels from ignition point to the intersection with a major highway in 1 hour and 20 minutes, a distance of 2-1/2 miles.

More than 4,000 people are evacuated in just over 30 minutes.

The city is Deadwood and in actuality, the 1959 fire was part of what could be called the Deadwood Fire Chronicles. There have been many threatening wildfires in the history of this community nestled in the heart of the Black Hills.

Jerome Harvey, a longtime Deadwood resident and volunteer firefighter, graduated from Deadwood High School in the spring of 1959 and was working for Arnio's Saw Mill.

He took a load of lumber to Oahe Dam where they used it to make cement forms and was returning home when he heard the news.

"I stopped in at Philip to gas up, and the guy there told me the city of Deadwood had burned," he said.

By the time he reached the Black Hills, it was dark.

"I came down Boulder Canyon and when I reached the area where the Roo Ranch is now, I could see flames on all sides of Deadwood," he said.

Harvey drove his truck toward town and was flagged down by a group of volunteer firefighters who were working the north section of the fire.

"They were trying to get back into Deadwood, so they piled on the flatbed truck," he said.

After he found a safe parking place, Harvey went to the Forest Service to ask if they needed help battling the blaze. A fire check point had been set up on Main Street Deadwood in front of the Franklin Hotel.

"They put anyone to work who had blood in them," Harvey said.

So, he loaded fire equipment in his Universal Jeep and took off toward Strawberry Hill.

He and other volunteers were working spot fires on the south end of the hill when they heard the roar of the approaching wildfire.

"There's this roaring noise a fire makes when it is topping in the trees," he said.

"I knew we were going to get trapped, so I started down the hill toward Little Strawberry Creek. My only thinking was to get in that water."

Harvey and the others lay down in the creek.

"The fire burned right over the top of us," he said. "None of us got hurt."

Joy Proctor Krautschun was an awestruck 10-year-old when the fire broke out.

"I saw the big flames. We loaded up and came to Spearfish where my grandparents lived," she said.

She said she also recalls the exchange between her brother and her dad while they were attempting to leave town.

"We had one of the first TVs in town, so my brother ran back to get it," she said.

Needless to say, Krautschun's dad didn't think the TV was worth losing life over.

After three days, the family returned to Deadwood. The Proctors' house and TV were saved.

"About a month after the fire, we had this big pancake fee to thank the firefighters," she said.

Krautschun also recalls going up in the hills and planting trees in the burned areas.

The Deadwood Fire of 1959 remains to this day the most destructive fire to private property, homes and infrastructure ever recorded in South Dakota, according to Jerome F. Harvey, (Jerome Harvey's son) who presented information about the blaze at a National Fire Protection Association World Safety Conference and Exposition in 2003.

More than 60 plus structures were destroyed including the Barber Transportation warehouse, power and telephone lines, motels, the post and pole plant, the wood treatment plant, family homes, farms, ranches, cattle and other livestock. Damage was estimated at $1.58 million in 1959 dollars (that equates to $11,603,993.99 in 2008 dollars).

There was substantial permanent job loss and economic downturn as people and families left the area.

Fire investigators determined that the 1959 Deadwood fire started in the backyard of the Hillcrest Manor, a rest home located on Highway 14A between Central City and Deadwood, the location of the current KOA campground.

The fire started Tuesday, Sept. 8, the same day and date as today, its 50th anniversary.

The Deadwood Fire of '59 by the numbers

1,000 - Firefighters on the fire within the first hour

3,600 - Regular firefighters and volunteers on the fire by sundown on the first day

27 - Bulldozers used to fight the fire

4 - Air tankers called to fight the fire

96 - Temperature outside when the fire started

36 - Hours that the evacuation period lasted

60 - Number of structures destroyed in the fire

1.5 - The damage amount in millions of dollars caused by the fire

4,501 - Acres burned in the fire

Source: "Historic Wildfire in the Black Hills," by Jerome F. Harvey