WASTA, S.D. – Fire crews from around the area continued working the Hawk Draw Fire on Wednesday.
The fire was sparked by a truck hauling hay that had caught fire on I-90 near Wasta on Tuesday night.
The fire was first estimated to have burned around 500 acres, but due to better mapping, that was downgraded to 291 acres Wednesday night.
The fire was showing some ‘flare up’ activity Wednesday evening, and at times, caused occasional lane closures on I-90. At one point, the Interstate was shut down due to heavy smoke making visibility poor. The Wasta Fire Department reported “We had numerous inquiries as to why the interstate was shut down. Reason being, the smoke was so thick that you couldn’t see a person standing 2 feet away and also couldn’t tell at the time if the fire had jumped the interstate. ”
Federal, state and local resources were on scene of the fire today, constructing line and mop up work.
Fire crews say cooler temperatures are helping with the fire fight, but with the wind still in the forecast, crews were expected to monitor the fire overnight.
Another small fire was reported up I-90, near the Minuteman Missile Site.
The Minute Man Fire was reported just after 5:20 Wednesday evening at mile marker 130 near Cottonwood.
The fire burned just a tenth of an acre and was declared out by 6:30 p.m.
The cause of the fire was not known.
