UPDATED July 20; we added this time-lapse video that was shot by Christopher Redmond Thursday near Highway 385 just north of Pringle, SD. Here is how he described it:
First day of the Myrtle Fire southwest of Rapid City and east of Pringle, SD as it explodes. Fire was pretty much plume dominated until winds shifted out of the east in the late evening. Several large bursts in fire activity caused some pyrocumulus to redevelop during the last gasp of daylight.
================
Original article, July 19, 2012:
We posted more information about the Myrtle Fire in South Dakota earlier, but here are a couple of short video clips that were shot Thursday evening.
I was staying at a cabin just 5 miles from the fire Thursday night. We went up to Sturgis that day and hadn’t heard anything about this fire on the radio. on or way back to the cabin that night around 10:00, we noticed that the sky was blood red. much to our surprise we seen this massive fire. being from Kansas. We had lots and lots of concerns. The main one being that we had no idea about the blaze. I figured that this would have been note worthy info for tourist in the area. luckily the cabins that we were staying at didn’t get evacuated until Friday late morning. after we had already left the area. I hope that everyone is ok and no ones homes had been lost. or at least I have not heard of any.
The crazy thing is I was talking to a lady that was holding the stop sign for the road crew the day before this. I even asked her about the threat of a fire with it being so dry in that area and with the road work they were doing there.
You may find this video interesting. It is a timelapse of last night’s smoke plume I did just north of the roadblock on 385. You can really see the wind shear created by the retreating dryline at sunset and the crown runs just after dark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4JiKzyF0BY&feature=youtu.be
Chip
IMET – SDSWFS
Thanks Chip. Great job! I embedded your video in the article.
Thanks for these updates. This fire is just a few miles from where I live, and I appreciate being able to keep up-to-date.