News Release From the NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE:
Officials from the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the State of South Dakota, the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, Sheridan County and an interagency Incident Management Team met Sunday morning to negotiate a Delegation of Authority agreement designed to facilitate cooperation and effective use of resources among the several jurisdictions.
The fire has now involved approximately 96,000 acres of the scenic Pine Ridge and Beaver Wall area in Nebraska and has crossed the South Dakota border onto the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The South Dakota portion of the fire has burned as far north as Oglala covering some 27,000 acres.
Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team A Incident Commander Todd Richardson observed that the level of respect and cooperation among the gathered officials was very encouraging. He complimented the hard work and effort put forth by the volunteer firefighters prior to the teams arrival.
Assistant Fire Chief Jerry Kearns of Rushville had a bit of good news on Sunday morning.
“From midnight on, the fire just laid down” said Kearns. “The wind dropped, the humidity rose and the fuel load somewhat diminished. We got a real break.”
When asked for his assessment of Saturday night, Rushville Mayor Chris Heiser replied “encouraging.” We held the lines – there was no major advancement.”
Kearns spoke at some length about the agonizing decisions commanders have to make to deploy limited resources to save one valuable building or asset and know that another will have to be lost because of that decision. He said it is especially difficult to see a rancher’s hay go up in flames because there are not enough resources to save it.
Saturday saw the departure of units from 18 volunteer fire departments from other Nebraska communities. These volunteers were called home to fight fires near their own communities.
Sheriff Terry Robbins reported seeing no houses destroyed by the fire and expressed his admiration for the firefighters who were able to save all those homes in the face of truly terrible fire conditions. Sheriff department personnel called every household in the Wellnitz fire area to urge evacuation then visited every home in person said Deputy Everette Langford.
Richardson said a DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker (VLAT) is stationed at Rapid City, however he thought it was unlikely it would be deployed on the Wellnitz fire. The VLAT is an effective tool for fire suppression but the fire in Sheridan County has not escalated to the point where using the VLAT would be an efficient, effective and strategically safe use of resources.
For up-to-date road closures call www.511.nebraska.gov or call 511
All state highways are open in the northern panhandle. Watch for fire fighters, smoke and wild fire.
Smoke can rapidly reduce visibility.
There may be intermittent road closures because of the response.
Safety Message Fire officials request that members of the public stay off county roads to keep them clear for firefighting efforts.