Fire burns 25,000 acres on Pine Ridge reservation - KOTA Territory News

Fire burns 25,000 acres on Pine Ridge reservation

A fast-moving wildfire from Nebraska has spread into the Pine Ridge reservation, burning more than 25,000 acres and destroying one home and a couple of outbuildings. 

The fire burned northwest of Pine Ridge village before heading toward the Oglala district Friday evening. That prompted Oglala Sioux Tribe President John Yellow Bird Steele to issue an evacuation order for residents of Slim Buttes, Calico, Tobacco, Number 4 Payabaya, Lakeside and Oglala. 

Pine Ridge BIA agency deputy superintendent Harold Compton says evacuation orders have been lifted, as the fire on Saturday is being kept south of Highway 18. But he says with triple-digit temperatures, low humidity and gusty winds, fire crews aren't out of the woods yet. 

The National Weather Service says a red flag warning is in effect through 11 p.m.

Winds and dry heat helped whip flames of a wildfire in northwest Nebraska that grew by nearly 78 square miles in a day.

Nebraska Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Jodie Fawl says the fire between Chadron and Rushville grew by Saturday to more than 93 square miles _ an area bigger than the size of Nebraska's state capital of Lincoln. The wildfire had traversed the state line into South Dakota overnight, forcing the evacuations of several South Dakota communities, as well as a number of residents along a rural county road on the Nebraska side.

The blaze is one of three large wildfires sparked by lightning earlier in the week in the tinder-dry northwestern corner of Nebraska. The other two fires burning to the west have burned about 115 square miles.

Join us for KOTA Territory News at 10 - We'll have the latest on the fires.