White Draw Fire was a

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, that started on Friday, June 29, 2012. The fire burned a total area of 14 square miles (8640 acres), mainly the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering of land. The major divisions of the agency are the Chief's ...

land. The fire did not harm any civilian population or livestock; however, a military C-130

MAFFS The Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) is a self-contained unit used for aerial firefighting that can be loaded onto both military cargo transport Lockheed C-130 Hercules and Embraer C-390 Millennium, which then allows the aircraft to b ...

air tanker Aerial firefighting, also known as waterbombing, is the use of aircraft and other aerial resources to combat wildfires. The types of aircraft used include fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Smokejumpers and rappellers are also classified a ...

crashed in the

Black Hills The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk Peak, which rises to , is the range's highest summit. The name of the range ...

during firefighting.

Origin

The fire was sparked by a vehicle 80 miles southwest of

Rapid City Rapid City is the county seat of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern slope of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and was named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed. It is the second-mo ...

on Friday afternoon. On the first day, it moved five miles due to wind gusts. It was fueled by dry bush and dry trees.

Description

By Sunday, the fire was 30% contained. The fire was primarily burning U.S. Forest Service land, and five homes were asked to evacuate. On July 5, the fire was 80% contained and had burned almost 9000 acres. The fire was fully contained by July 6 due to the efforts of 400 firefighters, helicopters, aircraft, and rainfall. The fire did not harm any people or livestock but affected some ranches. On July 1, an airforce C130 firefighter aircraft operated by

North Carolina National Guard The North Carolina National Guard (NCNG), commonly known as the North Carolina guard, is the National Guard (United States), National Guard component of the state of North Carolina. It is composed of North Carolina Army National Guard and North C ...

crashed with a crew of six, after it got stuck in a microburst, a small and intense thunderstorm.

Plane crash

On Sunday, July 1, a military C-130 MAFFS air tanker crashed in the Black Hills while fighting the White Draw Fire. The plane crashed at 6:00 p.m. after making two drops of retardant on the fire. The cause of the crash was a microburst. Four out of the six-member crew were killed. The four killed in the crash included Lt. Col. Paul Mikeal of Mooresville, Master Sgt. Robert Cannon of Charlotte, Maj. Joe McCormick of Belmont, and Captain Major Select Ryan Scott David of Boone. Immediately after the crash, a helicopter landed and took two survivors to a Rapid City hospital.

Memorial site

On July 1, 2013, a memorial site was dedicated to honoring the four people who died in the Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS) C-130 air tanker crash in White Draw Fire in 2012. The memorial site is located near the point of origin, approximately 6 miles northeast of Edgemont on Highway 18. It consists of a gravel parking area with room for about six vehicles, and it has two interpretive panels.{{Cite web, url=https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/white-draw-fire/, title=White Draw Fire Archives, website=Wildfire Today, date=2 August 2017 , language=en-US, access-date=2020-04-08

Closure

The

Black Hills National Forest Black Hills National Forest is located in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, United States. The forest has an area of over 1.25 million acres (5,066 km2) and is managed by the Forest Service. Forest headquarters are located ...

management ordered a temporary closure of the White Draw Fire to limit the use of land by the public. The residents, persons with permits, people involved in firefighting activities were exempted from the closure.

References