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Following a message from the emergency alert system calling for the evacuation of the city of Medora, a massive appeal for help was made to local, state and federal fire teams.
Firefighters battled the blaze southwest of Medora, which at one point encroached on the edges of the city. As of 8 p.m., fire officials reported 15% of the blaze had been brought under control, with about 9,600 acres burned.
And with extreme drought conditions spreading over much of North Dakota, Gov. Doug Burgum declared a statewide wildfire emergency early Thursday evening, allowing National Guard troops to help. states and local fire responses. Two Black Hawk helicopters were deployed by the Guard to Billings County, where they commuted to fight and contain the blaze in the evening.
Teams stopped the fire before it reached downtown Medora, although longtime town resident Joe Wiegand noted that any damage the smoke caused to buildings or the amphitheater neighbor of Burning Hills, home of Medora Musical, will need to be assessed in the morning.
Some residents who stayed at the historic sites spent the day as makeshift brigades, pouring water on the buildings closest to the blaze. As the sun set in Medora, most of the fire continued to burn and changes in wind direction could still pose a risk to the city overnight.
“Responders are making good progress on fire containment despite the difficult terrain and red flag conditions,” the North Dakota Forest Service said in a statement. “Critical weather and fire conditions are expected to continue.”
We declared a statewide wildfire emergency and activated @NDNationalGuard to deploy two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters to help fight a Billings County fire that caused the evacuation of the town of Medora.
View the emergency declaration at: https://t.co/rRbbisvqw9
– Governor Doug Burgum (@DougBurgum) April 1, 2021
Bill Palanuk, of the North Dakota Cowboys Hall of Fame in Medora, said everything is being done to preserve the historic Old West-style parts of the town.
“What is worrying is that the smoke is dark and the smoke from the grass fire is white smoke,” Palanuk said. “You see in the videos areas of black smoke coming out and that indicates that there is probably something other than grass burning.”
Wiegand said the blaze started amid high winds of 25 mph from the west on a northeast corner towards the Burning Hills Amphitheater, Mores Castle and the Castle Interpretive Center.
“The fire swept and claimed the crest of the cemetery, the cemetery of Medora, then swept a small canyon where the causeway rises to the Medora Musical. And I’m happy to say that the home of the Medora Foundation, which is a family home on this hill on the way, is completely intact and it looks like the fire has bypassed it, ”Wiegand said.
Wally Owen, a resident of Medora, said he called authorities on fire after seeing smoke near his property south of downtown on Thursday afternoon. Owen said he saw flames as high as 40 feet in the distance.
The fire approached within a quarter of a mile of his land, but Owen stuck around to make his property more fireproof by wetting the grass around his house and the wood shingles on his roof. Owen said his estate was undamaged and he didn’t think any of his neighbors’ buildings caught fire.
Wally Owen, a resident of Medora, said the flames of a wildfire occurred within a quarter of a mile of his property on Thursday, April 1, 2021. Photo submitted by Wally Owen
Owen, who lived near Medora most of his life and once operated the Peaceful Valley Ranch in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, said he had never seen a fire that was “such a threat” to the historic downtown district. As a keeper of local history and promoter of the area, Owen said he was more than relieved the town appeared to have survived the blaze.
“Prayers have been answered,” he said.
As smoke from the fire reduced visibility, the eastbound and westbound lanes of Interstate 94 were temporarily closed from Beach to Belfield but are now open, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol.
The Billings County wildfire on Thursday broke out amid widespread drought and some of the most fire-prone conditions North Dakota has seen in years. Nearly half of the state faces extreme drought conditions – an area that is up nearly 20% from last week thanks to persistent dry conditions and high winds, according to the US Drought Monitor.
All but four counties in North Dakota have implemented burning bans and grass fires have broken out in several areas of the state this week. A downed power line sparked a grass fire that spread over three miles outside of Richardton on Tuesday. Several fire teams in northeast North Dakota responded to a blaze last weekend that burned more than 250 acres near Grand Forks International Airport. And last week, near the Canadian border, a US border patrol officer rescued a man whose vehicle had been set on fire by a bushfire.
According to the North Dakota Forest Service, more than 140 wildfires have been reported so far this year, burning more than 30,000 acres – more than triple the area burned by wildfires in 2020.
Recent dry conditions have sparked fires in the high plains. A grass fire covering nearly 500 acres closed part of a freeway in western Minnesota earlier this week, and Burgum’s statement came just two days after South Dakota entered the state of emergency in response to the Black Hills wildfires that forced hundreds of evacuations in the western region of the state.
The North Dakota Forest Service will continue to assist local and tribal response efforts and position fire trucks as a preventative measure in high-risk areas, according to a statement from State Forester Tom Claeys. Additionally, Claeys noted that Colorado provided North Dakota with two wildland fire trucks through a state exchange.
For more information on forest fire prevention or to view maps showing current no-burn restrictions and fire danger levels, visit www.ndresponse.gov.
This is a developing story and updates will be made as more information becomes available.
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Local, state and federal fighters are at the scene of an active wildfire southwest of Medora, ND. We ask the public to avoid the area to allow emergency responders easy access to the fire. (Photo courtesy of US Forest Service)
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