Bismarck Tribune

By TONY SPILDEBy TONY SPILDE

Two major grass fires that were started by lightning strikes Tuesday on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation are mostly under control.

The Lund Fire, west of Fort Yates, and the Stone Church Fire, across the border in South Dakota, were estimated Friday to be 60 percent contained.

The fires had consumed a total of about 25,000 acres, according to an update from the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team, which took over command of the fires Thursday.

Significant moisture from the rain on Thursday will help extinguish the fires, the team said.

Five engines and 99 firefighters continued to work on the blazes Friday, putting out hot spots and examining the land to determine if any sites of historical importance were disturbed in the efforts to douse the fires.

The management team said fire crews from surrounding towns, which have been on scene since Tuesday, will be released to their home units over the next few days.

Sixteen new fires were reported in southern and western North Dakota on Thursday, according to a report from the Department of Emergency Services, but none amounted to much.

Although rain played a part in slowing the fires, there is still a fire emergency situation on Standing Rock, and the state remains under a drought emergency declaration.

To completely relieve the drought in the Bismarck area, the National Weather Service said, about 11 inches of rain would need to fall between now and the end of the year.

Dickinson led the way as far as rainfall totals Thursday, receiving .92 of an inch at the airport and .59 at the experiment station there. Fort Yates got .39 of an inch to help firefighters, and Bismarck got .32 of an inch.

Other rainfall totals:

Ashley - .36 inch

Bowman - .33

Flasher - .53

Hazelton - .5

Hettinger - .24

Linton - .6

Streeter - .78