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• LEMMON, S.D. (AP) -- A prescribed burn started by the U.S. Forest Service southeast of Hettinger, N.D., escaped containment lines and scorched nearly 22 square miles of grassland into South Dakota's Perkins County, officials said Thursday.
• Grand River District Ranger Paul Hancock said some private property was burned over but no structure damage or injuries have been reported.
• The fire spans about 14,000 acres in a rural area between the towns of Hettinger in North Dakota and Buffalo and Lemmon in South Dakota. Hancock said some parts have received snow that has helped containment efforts.
• The cooler weather has drastically slowed the blaze's movement, Hancock said.
• "Colder temperatures and higher humidity are helping tremendously," he said Thursday.
• The Forest Service said the fire escaped Wednesday as ignition operations were ending for the prescribed burn, which is done periodically to reduce the buildup of "fuels" such as branches and brush. Winds carried the fire east and south as crews tried to contain it on the Grand River National Grasslands.
• Hancock said the Forest Service regrets the burn escaped and affected "hundreds if not thousands of people" monitoring its path. There have been no ordered evacuations, though some residents have chosen to leave the area, he said.
• Some residents said later Thursday that the Forest Service hadn't listened to warnings about conducting the burn.
• "Several neighbors told them not to do it," said Bridget Keller, whose family runs Harris Keller Herefords south of Lemmon. "It's so dry. We've had no moisture at all."
• Ron Jablonski, a Forest Service district ranger brought in from Dickinson, told The Associated Press on Thursday evening that he didn't know if people had called before the burn to warn of potential problems. The ranger who would have handled such phone calls was at the burn site.
• Jablonski said several people have called in the aftermath to say the burn was a bad idea.
• "We realize that," he said, and added that the focus now is on containing the fire.
• Some area ranchers, meanwhile, are wondering what they are going to do for grazing lands. Laurie Casper, whose father operates a cattle ranch about 10 miles south of the Dakotas border, told the Dickinson Press that the family's summer, fall and winter grazing lands all were affected.
• "Everything is burnt," Casper said. "It's unbelievable."

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