Valentine and Kilgore Fire Departments responded to a power pole on fire southwest of Crookston last evening, 9/20/21. The call came in at about 6:45 pm to the pole located east of the German Settlement Road. Firemen were on scene less than an hour with just a small area of grass around the pole burned.
At approximately 11:00 am Saturday, 9/18/21, fire crews responded to the report of hay bales on fire at the Vander Wey place north of Crookston. Mission Fire Department requested mutual aid, which was answered by Valentine, Kilgore and Cody departments, as well as multiple departments from south central South Dakota. About 250 hay bales were lost in the fire, attributed to possible spontaneous combustion. The fire was limited to the hay yard, and the Valentine crews were on scene about 4 hours, according to fire chief Terry Engels.
Rangers are also reporting significant progress in fighting a fire that has burned thousands of acres in Nebraska’s northern Panhandle.
Officials with the Pine Ridge Ranger District said Monday, 9/20/21, the fire near Crawford is 50% contained. That’s an improvement from the 15% containment reported Sunday against the fire, which started a week ago.
Pre-evacuation notices for sections around Crawford were lifted. The fire, which is in Dawes County, was moved to a Type 4 incident, which means resources are usually local and some or all of the command and general staff positions will be from local resources.