A region riddled with drought conditions was affected by numerous wildfires Wednesday as 11 different fires broke out across southwestern South Dakota and central Nebraska.
The closest fire to Chadron as of Thursday morning was the Cottonwood Creek fire which has burned three acres just north of Provo, South Dakota in Fall River County.
The Murphy Fire just to the northeast of Hermosa has burned approximately 350 acres according to Watch Duty and to the northeast of Wanblee the Red Stone Complex Fire remained at zero percent containment Thursday morning.
The largest fire sparked yesterday was the Andrews Fire in the Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest south of Kilgore, Nebraska. The fire has burned 2,500 acres as of Thursday morning with zero percent containment.
Numerous other grass fires sparked across the sandhills of Nebraska Wednesday leading to the evacuations of Atkinson, Whitman and parts of Cherry County near Calf Creek Road. Those evacuations along with most road closures have since been lifted.
Thursday is expected to be windy with cooler but still warm temperature across the region with winds gusting up to 50 miles per hour. Moisture is expected in the region beginning Thursday night and continuing throughout the weekend into early next week.
