Fire restrictions start to lift

To the surprise of few but the relief of many, fire restrictions are now being lightened across the county.

Shortly after last week’s snowstorm, Fire Warden Charlie Harrison announced that the county burn ban was to be temporarily suspended until November 5, when a more permanent solution would be decided with the approval of the county commissioners.

However, a 120-acre fire took place next to Keyhole State Park on the weekend, which Harrison says was caused by an escaped controlled burn on private land. On Tuesday morning, this led the fire warden to suggest dropping back to stage one fire restrictions, rather than to lift the burn ban entirely.

“It’s slowed way down, which is good,” he said of fire season.

However, while he’d thought last week’s snow was “a season-ending event”, especially with 12 hours of rain before the snowfall, the Keyhole fire suggests that may not be the case, he said.

The long-range forecast suggests a drier pattern ahead, but cooler, shorter days, he said. Consequently, he suggested scaling back to stage one restrictions, and the commissioners concurred.

Meanwhile, stage two fire restrictions on the Black Hills National Forest were lifted on Friday, ending a special order that had been in place since October 1 that prohibited the use of open fire on all lands administered by the Black Hills National Forest.

However, although the cooler weather and moisture has reduced the fire danger, the conditions are still dryer than usual and the U.S. Forest Service is still asking forest visitors to recreate safely to prevent human-caused fires.

Stage 1 fire restrictions remain in effect on the the South Dakota side of the Black Hills National Forest year-round. These prohibit building or maintaining a fire or campfire unless it is in an approved fire ring.