Fanning the flames: Wind stokes grassfires in Takini, Glen Ullin areas
Route 13 fire cuts through Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, burning more than 37,000 acres
Much of the burned ground was on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation and around Takini and Red Scaffold, which has experienced dry conditions over the past 18 months.
When rancher Sean Deal got the call from neighbor Lisa Till, she told him she saw a puff of smoke.
“I was down on the (Cheyenne) River, feeding my bulls, and if you’re on the river, you can’t see anything.” When he was done, his phone rang again, this time, from his cousin JJ Hunt, who had also seen smoke. The two headed out to find it, then called Ziebach County Sheriff Gary Cudmore.
Deal headed home to get his tractor and disc, then went back to the head of the fire.
“By the time we got back there, it was rolling pretty good,” he said. “My tractor and disk did some good, but in that tall dry clover, we couldn’t beat it.”
And the fire, named the Route 13 fire because it started on Route 13 east of Takini, spread rapidly.
The wind blew hard all day, with gusts up to 40 miles per hour, and the fire jumped any of the fireguards Deal and others made.
Firefighters from across the region responded. By the end of the day, more than 25 groups were on site, including fire crews from Dupree, Isabel, Timber Lake, Enning, Sturgis, Philip, Glad Valley, Milesville, Vale, Faith, Eagle Butte, Plainsview, and more.
As did ranchers, farmers, and neighbors, who jumped into pickups, loading tankers where cakers were hours before, for feed chores. No water was available in Takini; water issues hampered fire fighting, so people filled tankers at Dean Wink’s tractor trailer washout near Howe’s C Store on Highway 34 east of Plainview.
Sheriff Cudmore was there, fighting the fire alongside the others.
He estimated at least 20 big tankers responded, bringing thousands of gallons of water.
“Those guys dropped what they were doing on their farms and ranches and loaded up their big tankers and came down,” he said. “They really saved us, because when we first got here, it was a water issue. We didn’t have enough water.”
The wind, blowing mainly out of the north, was firefighters’ worst enemy that day. “That day, the wind kept shifting,” Cudmore said. “I’ve never seen a fire split off that many ways and all come into one again.”
Sean Deal was cutting fire guards all day long, trying to slow down the fire but not having much success.
The fire kept coming. “We’d get one (fire) knocked down and controlled, then another would come,” he said. “You could only do so much.” Every time he disked a fire guard, the fire jumped the sixteen-foot width.
The BIA blade joined him, scraping the ground clear of plants and fuel for the fire, then they made progress. “It didn’t stop the fire,” Deal said, “but it slowed it up.”
With him disking and the blade scraping side by side, they made an eight-mile fire guard, from southeast to northwest, and then he headed home, to make a four-mile guard around his place.
With the wind and low humidity, it didn’t take the fire long to move. “It was the second fire guard I tried to disk,” he said, “and the fire was probably 300 yards from me, coming at me, and I’ll guarantee you I didn’t go a quarter mile and it had jumped my guard and blew by me.”
Firefighters struggled to make progress, with multiple fires breaking out, some started by vehicles driven by responders. And the rough terrain around the river was difficult to fight fire in.
Burtis White Wolf, who ranches southeast of Faith, had 320 acres of grass burned. Flames were eight to ten feet high, as he fought the fire with his tanker. Josh Hunt ran a tractor and disk, which “really helped us,” he said.
“Boy, it was tough,” he said. “We’d barely put out a fire and it would start in another place.” His daughter-in-law has video of a pickup traveling at 35 mph and the fire keeping pace with the vehicle.
White Wolf’s nephew, Huey White Wolf, lost his entire range unit, Burtis said. “I don’t know what he’s going to do.”
The town of Takini was ordered to evacuate, as was the school. The BIA road shop blade was brought in and cut a grader line, making a fire guard, saving the school and houses.
On Tuesday, March 11, two Blackhawk helicopters made several water dumps. The South Dakota National Guard and the South Dakota Dept. of Public Safety assisted as well.
People showed up with food all day long, Cudmore said, feeding firefighters and responders.
No one died; no livestock was lost and no structures were destroyed. Much of the fence is steel and didn’t burn, but fence was cut as responders cut through to access the fire.
Deal has ten to fifteen miles of H-braces to replace on his fence lines. Friends have called, offering help and support, he said.
“I’ve had numerous friends call and say, we’ll be there, we’ll be there in an hour, to fix fence, move cattle. I don’t know how many people have called, and they’re still calling. They don’t want nothing in return, and they won’t take anything in return.”
Meals were provided from people all over the area, Cudmore said: auxiliaries, ranchers’ wives, volunteer fire departments, and more. “We had meals from Sturgis, Faith, Eagle Butte, Dupree, Enning, Howe’s Store, everybody sent sandwiches and water and Gatorade to us. We were definitely getting dehydrated and the water and food that everybody supplied, was a huge asset.”
The tribe provided a meal on the evening of Tues., March 11, a big supper at the school, Cudmore said. “It’s little stuff like that. People say, that’s a little deal, but it’s a big deal for us. They don’t take it lightly. They want to show their appreciation.”
Deal noted that people he didn’t even know helped, out of the goodness of their hearts.
“Two old boys came, and I saw them at 10 am that morning, and at 11 pm that night, they were still there, fighting fire. They never took a break. Kelly took them some food, I told them where they could get water if they needed it.
“They never came out of them breaks, they stayed up there, all day. They said thanks for the food, and that’s all they wanted.”
The fire was mostly contained by March 11, with patrols watching for hot spots or smolders.
On his Facebook page, Cudmore thanked everyone who helped: from volunteer fire departments to sheriff’s offices, BIAs, the South Dakota Highway Patrol, and more. Firefighters from as far away as Casper and Worland, Wyo. came to help.
“The BEST part was not one complaint about jurisdiction. It was all about public safety and trying to save numerous livelihoods of people,” he wrote. “Hats off to everyone involved in the Route 13 fire.”
When it was done, Deal lost about 4,000 acres of grass; not all of it, but much of it. It was his summer pasture, and now he’s not sure what he’ll do.
“We pray for rain, for moisture,” he said. “If we get the moisture it’ll come back and it’ll be good. If we don’t get moisture, we’re probably going to have to start selling stuff. I’ll wait as long as I can, and I do not want to sell. That would be my last option.”
The fire was possibly started by an arsonist, Cudmore said. The Cheyenne River Sioux tribe will have jurisdiction, if someone is charged with arson.
A crisis like the Route 13 fire brought community together, Deal said. “The story is someone started this fire, but there were 500 good people here today, compared to that one person. The good always wins.”
A fire south of Glen Ullin, North Dakota burned an area about a mile wide by 10 miles long, nearly encompassing at least one farmstead. Firefighters on scene protected multiple structures, hay and more. According to KFYR, the cause of the fire is under investigation. One tractor and some older structures were burned in the western North blaze, but no homes were consumed, said the Glen Ullin Fire Chief Wade Kottre in a KFYR story.
