Prescribed Burn Planned at Mount Rushmore, April 29, 2020

Prescribed Burn Planned at Mount Rushmore

Release Date: April 28, 2020
Contact: Maureen McGee-Ballinger, maureen_mcgee-ballinger@nps.gov 605-574-3115

KEYSTONE, S.D. – Mount Rushmore National Memorial will implement a prescribed burn on Wednesday, April 29 to reduce accumulated fuels in support of the park’s fire management plan. The burn will be ignited within developed areas of the Memorial and will cover approximately 260 acres.
The burn objective is to reduce the build-up of dead fuels, in order to reduce the chance of higher severity fires. Visitors could experience drifting smoke and haze throughout the burn period and into the following evening. Those with smoke sensitivity are advised to be cautious when visiting the Memorial.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial has successfully completed several fuel-reducing projects in the past, to prevent or slow the growth of wildfires. These projects have primarily included mechanical thinning and pile burning. This week’s broadcast burn will allow the Memorial to reduce fuels across a larger area and will be conducted under approved prescription conditions. Factors such as humidity, fuel moisture, wind speed and direction, and weather forecasts are all considered in establishing the acceptable conditions for conducting a prescribed fire. If the prescribed set of conditions are not met, the fire will be postponed.

April 28, 2020

Crackerjack CA
Reported:  3:38 pm on 4/28/2020
Location: 3 miles NE of Whitewood, SD
Size: 0.25 acre
Resources:  Local and State
Cause: Human
Status: Contained and Controlled at 4:43 pm (4/28/2020); Out at 8:30 (5/1/2020)

West Ash Camp
Reported:  2:58 pm on 4/28/2020
Location: 8 miles SE of Crawford, NE; Dawes County
Size: 0.1 acre
Resources:  Forest Service
Cause: Human
Status: Contained, Controlled, and Out at 4:00 pm (4/28/2020)

Prescribed Burn at Mount Rushmore planned for Wed. April 29, 2020

Mount Rushmore personnel are planning to prescribe burn within park boundaries beginning around 9:00 am.  Smoke may be visible from surrounding communities throughout the day.

April 27, 2020

Pleasant Valley
Reported:  6:45 pm on 4/27/2020
Location: 4 miles west of Custer, SD; Custer County
Size: 0.1 acre
Resources:  Local
Cause: Unknown
Status: Contained at 7:00 pm (4/27/2020) and Controlled at 7:45 pm (4/27/2020)

Beaver Den
Reported:  11:18 am on 4/27/2020
Location: 1.5 miles NNE of Pringle, SD; Custer County
Size: 0.84 acre
Resources:  Local, Forest Service, and State
Cause: Unknown
Status: Contained at 4:03 pm (4/27/2020) and Controlled at 09:42 am (4/28/2020)

April 23, 2020

Beaver Lake
Reported:  6:45 pm on 4/23/2020
Location: 3 miles west of Custer, SD; Custer County
Size: 0.1 acres
Resources:  Local
Cause: Equipment
Status: Contained and controlled 7:30 pm on 4/23/2020

Universal
Reported:  1:32 pm 4/23/2020
Location: Pennington County, 15 miles SSE of Black Hawk SD
Size: 0.1 acres
Status: Out 2:03 pm on 4/24/2020

April 6, 2020

Grayhound Fire

Reported: 4:06 pm 4/6/2020

Location: Pennington County, 2 miles SE of Keystone, SD

Size: 0.28 acres

Resources: Federal, state, local

Cause: Human
Status: Contained (6:30 pm 4/6/20), Controlled (2:09 pm 4/7/20)