Grizzly Gulch Fire surges to 4500 acres (Black Hills South Dakota)

The 4,500-acre Grizzly Gulch Fire that burned Saturday on the edges of Deadwood was 30 percent contained Sunday, as the relatively small crew of about 200 firefighters managed to save the northern Black Hills gambling town.

"When I first drove in here, I thought we were going to lose a lot of Deadwood, and it's because of you, we didn't," South Dakota Wildland Fire Coordinator Joe Lowe told firefighters Sunday morning.

Officials ordered residents, casino guests and others to evacuate Saturday afternoon. However, not every one complied in what residents said was chaos amid smoke, slurry bombers and an eerie silence on Main Street.

Later, the evacuation was expanded east down to the Boulder Canyon Country Club toward Sturgis as a precaution. And late Saturday, officials also ordered evacuations of the Galena, Elk Creek, Vanocker Canyon and Nemo areas southeast of Deadwood. A sudden switch of the wind direction was blowing the fire away from Deadwood.

Sunday afternoon the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office was contacting people north of Brownsville road and west of Yellow Creek road to highway 85/14A and requesting voluntary evacuation and to be ready for possible mandatory evacuation because of heavy smoke and ash moving in a southwesterly direction.

As of 2 p.m. Sunday, the following roads were closed: Highway 85 south at quarry a few miles south of I-90; Highway 85 north at Lead; Boulder Canyon road about two miles south of Sturgis; and Highway 385 North at Nemo Road.

There was a temporary flight restriction in effect over the Grizzly Gulch fire area Sunday afternoon. Unauthorized flights were not allowed and violations will be reported to the FAA.

The Lawrence County Emergency Operations Center has set up a phone line for Lawrence County residents to call to get information about the fire. The number is 605-578-1941 and is operational from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. daily.

"Our main objective at this point is to protect the structures and steer (the fire) back into the wilderness," Beth Adam of the state Wildland Fire Suppression Division said.

One problem with fighting the fire was that so many firefighting resources had been sent to fight fires in Colorado and Arizona, Lowe said. "When we came in here, we didn't have the resources we needed," he said. "With the resources we had, we should have lost the town of Deadwood."

About half of the South Dakota Highway Patrol was at the fire scene late Saturday. Sixty-five troopers reported to the new command center set up for law enforcement, emergency and fire officials. Their job Saturday night was to drive through rough country to homes south and east of Deadwood to warn residents they should evacuate, said Maj. Dan Mosteller, assistant superintendent of the Highway Patrol. Troopers can't force people to leave, he said.

Adam confirmed that at least eight structures had burned, including two homes. But she said that crews were able to save the Mile Hi Mobile Home Manor near the south end of Deadwood. There had been reports that the park had burned.

The fire forced the evacuation of the Lead mobile home park, which abuts Deadwood city limits in the Highway 385-85 junction area called Strawberry Hill.

Other officials said a house and garage burned in the Grizzly Gulch south of Lead, where the fire started.

A fireman was pulled from the fire line Sunday afternoon because of an arm injury.

Early Saturday evening a building could be seen burning in the hilltop residential neighborhood above Northern Hills General Hospital. There were conflicting reports on whether the building was a house or a garage. It appeared to be on Rodenhaus Street. The fire also came within 100 yards of the historic Mount Moriah Cemetery.

Barbara Thirsturp, spokeswoman for Black Hills Power & Light Company, said repair crews Sunday were waiting for law enforcement permission to re-enter Deadwood. The fire was burning along a route that follows a power line. Firefighters on the scene said the power line got so hot it was glowing red. The fire damaged support poles for the high power line in the Strawberry Hill area, knocking out power to homes and businesses. She said emergency power was rerouted through facilities at Trojan, near Terry Peak. Power was restored to Lead. Early assessments indicate it could take three days to restore electrical power to Deadwood, Boulder Canyon and other fire areas. Additionally, fire damaged the company's Black Hills FiberCom telecommunication system, knocking out service to 104 of the 1,500 customers in the area. Officials did not have an estimate on when that service would be restored.

The fire's cause was not immediately known, although a lightning storm had passed through the area Friday night. Temperatures in the region soared to 110 degrees Saturday. The relative humidity was 11 percent and northwest winds at 5 mph to 15 mph. In the background is the concern the fire could reach the Beaver Park Roadless Area and its thousands of trees killed by pine beetles.

The Grizzly Gulch Fire, reported at 2 p.m., moved east and crossed Highway 385, eliminating one possible evacuation route. The area is a series of hills and gulches feeding into Deadwood. Flames crowned in trees behind Northern Hills General Hospital on Charles Street and at White Rocks above Mount Moriah Cemetery. The fire was "torching some trees and traveling through the canyon," Adam said. "It is just coming down the hills into parts of town, but we are stopping it at this time."

Seven air tankers were called in. The first of the C-130 air tankers that were requested had arrived Saturday evening. An estimated 250 firefighters were on the job Sunday morning. An elite "Type One" fire crew was expected to arrive by this morning, he said.

In Deadwood, fire trucks roamed the steep residential streets above Charles Street, and crews sprayed water on homes threatened by the nearing flames. In several neighborhoods in the southern and eastern parts of Deadwood, flames came within 100 yards of homes.

People at the Terry Peak lookout could see the red-colored slurry loads dropped and flares of flames from treetops. Smoke from the fire could be seen 100 miles away. The huge smoke column was drifting over Bear Butte and Sturgis.

As people were being ushered from Deadwood, non-emergency traffic was being stopped from entering town. Traffic jams reportedly were hampering firefighting efforts. Civilian use of cell phones also was jamming communication systems. First Gold Hotel general manager Brad Hemmah was among those stopped from entering Deadwood. He wanted to help his staff close the casino hotel, which normally runs nonstop. "I was pleading for them to let me in, and they just won't," he said, standing at the Boulder Canyon roadblock.

Mineral Palace casino hotel worker Sheldon Johnson of Sturgis also was stopped at the Boulder Canyon barricade. He was trying to get into town to help a boss shut down operations.

Dale Carter, a freelance photographer from Lead, made his way into Deadwood at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. He stayed there until about 9 p.m. Originally from Iowa, this was his first experience with a forest fire. He recalls the sound the fire made. "I thought I was hearing roars of planes or engines," he said. "I finally realized it was the fire, about a half mile away." From anywhere in Deadwood you could see flames, Carter said, expressing surprise that the fire didn't do more damage in the city itself.

On Main Street, Franklin Hotel operator Bill Walsh smoked a cigar as he and an employee remained at the Main Street landmark. "The Franklin has never closed its doors," he said in explaining why he remained. He said the hotel was used by firefighters during Deadwood's 1959 fire. (See related story.)

Elsewhere downtown, action was reduced to loose dogs and officers checking that doors were locked. A handful of people relaxed on a bench in front of the Old Style Saloon on Main Street. Other than that, an eerie silence hung over the normally bustling gambling town. Power was out, and all the casinos were dark.

John Bonett, events coordinator at the Tin Lizzie Casino Restaurant, said the evacuation of the casino began about 4 p.m. and took about an hour. He said the power went out before slot machine players could cash in their winnings. "We took numbers off the machines and got everybody's name and address," he said. "It went pretty well."

However, a number of Deadwood residents stayed behind. With slurry bombers roaring low overhead and fire trucks streaming by, a dozen people watched the burning hillside from parking lots off Charles Street. Others were seen calmly walking their dogs. A few stood in their front yards, water hose in hand, spraying their roofs.

Evacuees were sent to the Donald E. Young Sports and Fitness Center at Black Hills State University in Spearfish and to the former armory in Lead. At 8 p.m., a Young Center employee said the building was "pretty full," with between 200 and 250 people keeping an eye on the news and their families.

Lead police said the Palace Express hotel and the Golden Hills Resort and Convention Center, both in Lead, also were spots where evacuees headed, but employees at both places said they hadn't seen any evacuees come in. Gov. Bill Janklow said anyone visiting the state who was displaced by the Deadwood evacuation could go to the Black Hills State University gymnasium in Spearfish and get help finding a place to stay. Deadwood attracts hundreds of tourists daily.

Patients who were evacuated from Northern Hills General Hospital in Deadwood were taken to hospitals either in Spearfish or Sturgis, a spokesman for Rapid City Regional Hospital said. Family members seeking information about patients should call Regional Hospital at 719-1000.

Rapid City Journal subscribers in the evacuation area will have their Sunday newspapers available either at the Donald E. Young Center or the Northern Hills Journal office, both in Spearfish.

It's growing, and yesterday's 100-plus temps didn't help. Today it's not as hot. Hopefully that will help with the firefighting efforts.

Read the article carefully, reading "between the lines". You'll see that a lot more is being said here than just "fire news".

concern the fire could reach the Beaver Park Roadless Area and its thousands of trees killed by pine beetles

If this burns, watch the media do backflips to avoid mentioning the obvious:
No roads plus no clearing diseased trees equals disaster!

On a lighter note, look at this captioning error I found in the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader online:

Saturday, June 29, 2002


Kevin Woster - Argus Leader An airplane fighting the fire in the Black Elk WIlderness on Friday scouts the fire area south of Mount Rushmore National Memorial in preparation for a drop of fire retardants by a larger cargo plane.

Black Hills blaze small but dangerous
CUSTER - As worried residents watched from road bridges and rock outcroppings a few miles away, firefighters Friday battled rough terrain, 90-degree heat and a highly combustible pine forest to fight a fire in the Black Hills Wilderness Area.

--when I moved to the Black Hills in '83 two thousand people were supported by logging--it's now a fraction of that, of course as a letter from the Sierra Club or the other "conservation" (treehugger) -groups takes a tract out of consideration for three years-indefinitely, for practical purposes.

Along the same lines, for nearly two weeks now Show Low, Arizona has been in danger--in that hime two dozers could have had a firebreak a few hundred feet wide around the entire town--wonder why not?

I grew up in Southern California. There were numerous 100-yard firebreaks scraped into the hillsides below the San Gabriel Mountains which did help prevent fire spreading. All bets were off during a Santa Ana wind, though. Embers flew for miles.

I haven't been back for some years; I'll bet the firebreaks are now overgrown.

Thanks for the ping ps, I saw the smoke over the Hills as I headed for home last night. I afraid this is only the beginning, unless we get some rain...

Thank God they have been able to spare Deadwood so far, what a historic loss that would be.

We call it that on this side of the state too. We can thank Tim Johnson and Tom Daschle for these fires, at least in part. John Thune tried to introduce legislation to log out firebreaks and clean the tinder up, but Dasshole and Johnson stuck with the envirowackos, made sure the measure was killed, and we very nearly lost a state treasure because of it. It's only going to get worse.

. John Thune tried to introduce legislation to log out firebreaks and clean the tinder up, but Dasshole and Johnson stuck with the envirowackos

Very well said. That needs to get repeated across the fine state of SD repeatedly, loudly and forcefully, through November for a thune victory. Then on through 2004, for a Daschle defeat.

Spread this word farther and faster than any fire could ever match, but with all the flaming intensity these fires build on.

Can see the smoke about 40 miles in a straight line from where my house is. Last night it blew north east, this morning it blew south, this afternoon it is straight up. Winds are changing often. Slurry bombers real active, I have suggested in the past that the fires would go out a lot quicker if we loaded the bombers with the latest high tech slurry consisting of 100% living moronvironmentalist, followed up with an unchallenged forest management plan, and in five years, the thinned and managed forests though not fire proof, would be far more likely to resist wild fire and more easily controlled if one was to start.

I just haven't decided who is going to name the enviros, and who will make up the Order of Slurry deployment. Perhaps a committee from each state with the western states having priority. By the second or third slurry deployment, there will be a nationwide epiphany and day of repentence announced by all enviros unwilling to place their precious lives on the line for a battle they know in their hearts is a lie and a sham. Freedom of speech does not include destruction of the Constitution, our way of life, or lies and deception, and faulty opinions regarding a science that foresters have spent centuries developing and learning.

A couple of hours ago, a special report came on the TV here...Governor Janklow was asking all of the residents of Lead to evacuate. The wind had changed, and the fire had jumped the highway.

The Governor, who is also our Republican nominee for Congress this fall, has been very involved in the effort to protect lives and property. My hat is off to him for his hard work.

John Thune showed up during the interview, and talked for a bit as well.

I guess Tim Johnson must have been elsewhere...perhaps he's off at a meeting of the Sierra Club or something... ;-)

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