Crews are still finding hot spots and smoke on the Creek Side Fire, burning since Friday on the Pine Ridge Reservation between Wounded Knee and Manderson. It has remained at about 750-acres since Saturday. No structures have been damaged.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs Forestry and Wildland Fire Management posted on Facebook last evening that it still had 3 Type-6 engines assigned to the fire along with a small falling module – a unit specifically trained to cut down hazardous trees.
. The agency said that with high winds and low relative humidity predicted throughout the weekend, embers and coals well inside containment lines may be fanned enough for smoke to appear but not enough to move them past the lines.
The focus remains on hardening the containment lines even more while seeking out and extinguishing hot spots and smoking areas within 200-feet of the lines. The falling mod team is still removing all hazardous trees near the lines.
No cause has been released for the Creek Side Fire and officials warn that smoke may continue to be seen from the interior until a heavy rain or snowfall. .