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of the wildfires cutting through the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota, a lightning strike started another blaze, effectively doubling the battleground.
• Dozens of residents remained evacuated Monday as authorities looked hopefully at weather forecasts predicting thunderstorms Monday and Tuesday nights.
• But Rocky Mountain Area Incident Commander Joe Lowe said the weather so far hasn't been cooperating. The area saw rain over the weekend, but the "thunderstorms come in and just miss us by about four or five miles," he told a gathering of residents and officials Monday at a Rosebud Sioux Tribe meeting broadcast on the web.
• So far, no homes have been hit and no injuries reported. But some residents aren't sure whether they've lost pets or cattle in the blazes, which began late last week.
• Authorities estimated that various fires cover at least 7,500 acres -- or more than 11 square miles -- on the reservation. That's similar in size to another blaze 10 miles northwest of Edgemont, where firefighters built a fire line Monday around the newest portion of the Mossagate Fire. Meanwhile, the nearly 16-square-mile Myrtle fire continued to burn farther west in the Black Hills. Authorities on Monday said that blaze was about 40 percent contained -- thanks, in part, to weekend rainfall.
• Shane Del Grosso, a fire behavior analyst, told Rosebud residents that the reservation fires were fueled in part by the recent drought. Flames were 8 to 9 feet high. Where there's brush, some flames soared past 20 feet, he said.
• Tribe President Rodney Bordeaux has asked for state and federal help. Residents have been told to document losses to report to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
• Firefighters planned to pre-emptively burn off brush in hopes of controlling the fires' path, a move Del Grosso acknowledged was risky.
(Continued on page 18)
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