On a day when weather conditions were flirting with Red Flag Warning criteria, firefighters on Wednesday stopped the Argyle Road Fire north of Hot Springs, South Dakota after it burned approximately five acres. The personnel on scene from Hot Springs, Custer, Argyle, and the Forest Service were dealing with a temperature of 38 degrees and winds measured at Elk Mountain (north of the fire) of 23 mph with gusts to 49.
The fire was burning in an area that had been slightly thinned, but the slash was still scattered on the ground.
It is likely that the fire, which was on private land south of Argyle Road seven miles west of US Highway 385, started from the power line that was on the ground near the point of origin, apparently recently broken.
All of the photos were taken by Bill Gabbert.
Glad they got it handled! Late season fires are a bugger. Out here, the State and BLM have to really scramble to get engines out to help us.
The old salts really get nervous when the fall comes around and there is standing grass with no snow.
In 91 they had a fire that burned 185,000 acres in a day and a half during the middle of October.
Glad they had a good response!