The Alabaugh Fire has grown to 9,885 acres but is 40 percent contained, fire officials said Tuesday evening.

The fire, which roared through the Alabaugh Canyon area west of S.D. Highway 71 Saturday, drove almost 100 residents from more than 50 homes in the picturesque area along the highway, from Hot Springs southwest to Cascade Falls.

Incident Commander Joe Lowe said he was relieved to be able to allow people back into their homes on Tuesday.

"I am happy that people will now be allowed to go home. I understand how they must be feeling, as my family was evacuated on the East Ridge Fire last year," he said through a prepared release from the Northern Great Plains Interagency Dispatch.

Fire crews conducted extensive burnout operations Tuesday and have begun taking control of the fire, Larry Helmerick of the Northern Great Plains Joint Information Center said.

"Right now, we're doing a very large burnout to reinforce the line," he said about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. "A lot of smoke is visible in the Hot Springs area, but it's us doing it to the fire rather than the fire doing it to us, for a change."

A burnout is a tactic in which crews ignite grass and vegetation between the fire lines and the fire to rob the blaze of its fuel source.

Helmerick said that cooler weather and lower relative humidity helped firefighters double the containment Tuesday to 40 percent. The blaze was 20 percent contained Monday night.

Firefighters will continue to stay on the fire until it is fully contained, Helmerick said, and there will be crews working around the areas of the returned evacuees.

"Homeowners will have a firefighter presence for some time," he said.

A total of 83 buildings have been lost in the fire, including 33 homes.

"As far as we know, it's the worst fire in South Dakota as far as homes and loss of structures," Helmerick said.

Evacuated subdivisions included Pine Shadows, Black Hills Flyway and Sheps Canyon. Precautionary evacuations include Old Highway 18 to Chilson Canyon.

People were allowed back into their houses Tuesday afternoon. Nonresidents are still not allowed into the evacuated areas.

On Tuesday, nearly 492 firefighters were involved in battling the blaze.

That included 13 20-person hand crews, 41 engines, 16 water tenders and five bulldozers, as well as five helicopters, including three of the Air National Guard's big Blackhawk helicopters and two single-engine air tankers.

Containment is still expected by Thursday. The cost of fighting the fire had soared to $1.978 million by Tuesday.

Helmerick said he expected things to go fairly well Tuesday night because cloud cover was expected to provide good firefighting conditions.

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