PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) - Crews on Wednesday were battling a wildfire that has burned 200 acres on the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota.
The fire was 35% contained as of mid-morning Wednesday, according to InciWeb, an incident information system website managed by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. A statement on the website calls it “a human-caused fire in steep timber on the Pine Ridge Reservation driven by high winds.”
According to a statement on the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Facebook page, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Department and Oglala Sioux Tribe Emergency Management have requested additional resources, including road graders, airplanes, a helicopter and more firetrucks, to fight the wildfire located about 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) north of the town of Pine Ridge.
The Rapid City Journal reports the fire began Tuesday evening and lessened overnight, but became active again Wednesday morning. Ten structures were protected and another five were threatened by the flames, according to the InciWeb website.
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