Lightning has been identified as the cause of a wildfire in Oglala National Grasslands that was discovered early Tuesday morning.
US Forest Service Fire Fighters responded along with agency support offered by Chadron, Crawford, and Harrison NE Volunteer fire departments. The fire is being managed under a unified command between the US Forest Service, Crawford Volunteer Fire Department and the Harrison Volunteer Fire
Department.
There was a Type 1 helicopter and air attack ordered to support the initial attack of the fire. They
worked to assist with firefighters and heavy equipment on the ground much of the afternoon
June 25th and will continue these operations today. Incident management still asks the public
refrain from recreational activity on Whitney Lake through today, as the helicopter is using the
lake as the largest local body of water to dip out of.
Current strategy will be to continue mopping up dozer lines and securing the lines. Given the
steep terrain and heavy dead and down timber left by the 2012 Douthit Fire, it was difficult to
safely engage the fire early on, but with assistance from many local cooperators lines were put in
place and successfully held overnight. The fire was mapped today and was concluded to be at
340 acres.
Tim Buskirk, District Ranger said, “we really appreciate the efforts of the firefighters in their
work yesterday. I’d like to thank all our cooperators including Chadron, Crawford and Harrison
VFDs, Dawes and Sioux County Road Departments, Pine Ridge Job Corps, Nebraska National
Forests and Grasslands and our friends in South Dakota.”
For ongoing updates, please see Nebraska National Forests and Grasslands on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/NebraskaForestsGrasslands
