Wildfire burns west of Rapid City; residents urged to stay alert • South Dakota Searchlight

RAPID CITY — Authorities are advising some residents on the western edge of Rapid City to be ready for a potential evacuation order as a wildfire burns nearby.

A pre-evacuation notice was in effect Tuesday morning.

“We’re not evacuating anybody right now,” said Lt. Jason Mitzel of the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office. “However, I would urge the public that lives in the vicinity to be prepared, and get documents, medications and animals ready to go, just in case the wind switches and the fire does expand.”

Mitzel said some of the areas of concern include neighborhoods along Sheridan Lake Road from Norseman Lane to Victoria Lake Road, as well as the Red Rock, Dark Canyon, Falling Rock and Hisega residential areas. By Tuesday morning, authorities had closed Norseman Lane and Victoria Lake Road from Sheridan Lake Road to Taylor Ranch Road, and additional closures were under consideration.

Mitzel urged the public to stay out of the affected area to avoid endangering themselves and fire crews.

If evacuations are ordered, Mitzel said the information will be shared with local media and posted to social media accounts managed by the sheriff’s office. He said authorities would also make efforts to go door-to-door in affected areas.

The wildfire, named the First Thunder Fire, was reported at 6:15 p.m. Mountain time on Monday. The cause is under investigation, and there are no damages to structures or injuries reported so far.

About 150 acres (roughly one-fourth of a square mile) had burned as of Tuesday morning. The location is several miles west of Rapid City in a forested, rocky area cut by deep canyons. Land in the area is a mixture of private ownership and the Black Hills National Forest.

To establish a containment perimeter, firefighters are digging earthen lines by hand and by bulldozer, utilizing logging roads and physical features that could help halt the fire’s advance, and applying fire retardant chemicals. But authorities said containment Tuesday morning stood at 0%.

An estimated 75-100 people were involved in the response as of Tuesday morning, including firefighters from local, state and federal agencies. The response also included two helicopters, four air tanker planes and multiple fire trucks.

The temperature in Rapid City was expected to rise above 95 degrees Tuesday, and the forest at the city’s edge is in a dry condition, said Brandon Sanchez, the incident commander for the U.S. Forest Service.

“The warm weather, for how late it is in the season, is really alarming for us as we try to get containment around the fire,” Sanchez said. “Hopefully the weather does cool down and we get higher humidity at night.”