(KBHB, Sturgis)- A wildfire incident near Schroeder Road (Schroeder Fire) in the Nemo Area is rapidly developing according to firefighters.
Fire crews responded to the blaze earlier today (March 29, 2021) as very strong winds were pushing the fire to the south and west.
Authorities are asking the public to stay out of the area so firefighters can get in and work.
The fire led to the evacuations of the Westberry Trails Subdivision. The Pinedale Heights and West Camp Rapid were put on alert for possible evacuation.
Nemo Road has been closed as fire crews from around the area were sent in to try and slow down the fire. An estimate on the fire is difficult, but fire officials earlier thought 200 acres initially may have burned.
Black Hills Energy has also announced it is experiencing several power outages across the Black Hills region. As of 10:20am MT, about 558 customers are without electric power in the west Rapid City area near South Canyon Road and Schroeder Road area and an outage impacting about 65 customers in the Keystone area. Black Hills Energy operation crews stand ready to respond when conditions are safe for crews to restore power.
The fire burning near Nemo isn’t the only fire keeping crews busy. Great Plains Dispatch reports another fire located 1.5 miles southwest of Keystone has burned approximately 20 acres. Highway 244 is closed from Keystone to the stoplight at Mount Rushmore Memorial. 16A beginning at Grizzly Campground is also closed. The fire is burning in heavy dead and downed timber with very high potential for spread due to very high winds.
Representative Duty Johnson confirmed via Twitter that FEMA has approved a state request for emergency assistance in fighting the wildfires now burning near Rapid City.
The incident has been designated the ‘Schroeder Fire’ and the State Wildland Fire Division has set up an Incident Command Center.
Please follow http://gpfireinfo.blogspot.com/ for updates on the 244 Fire.
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