The Rapid City Journal has a very well-written article about Friday’s Mallow fire (Wildfire Today article) which burned about 150 acres near Cowboy or “M” hill within the city limits, threatening neighborhoods.
Here is an excerpt from the article by David Montgomery:
At first, there was nothing spectacular about the small fire that sprang up on Cowboy Hill shortly before noon on Friday.
“We had about two acres going up-slope,” said Rob Powell, a battalion chief with the Rapid City Fire Department who was the first on scene.
Powell and other firefighters hoped they could swiftly contain and knock down the fire, called the Mallow Fire after its origin near Mallow Street. But they also knew that the elements were conspiring against them – it was unseasonably hot with little humidity, and the area where the fire started was choked with dry grass, bushes and other highly flammable undergrowth.
To try to head the fire off, Powell came up with a plan to “anchor and flank” – to use a previously burned area to stop the fire from spreading. This might have worked, except for a brisk and erratic wind.
“The wind hit it and it went right around it and across the draw and up the hill and back to the houses,” Powell said.
That was when the fire started to move north, into rougher terrain that firefighters couldn’t reach as easily.
Photos of the fire: HERE and HERE.
