The story of the week was definitely about the fire call that came in at 3:17 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 17. The fire took hold of property southeast of Woonsocket and traveled northward, burning up an estimated 1,120 acres, spanning a trail four miles long and 1.5 miles wide. Although the fire itself was kept from getting to SD Highway 34, the smoke was so thick that law enforcement had to close the highway from through traffic for a couple of hours due to lack of visibility.

With high winds and extremely dry conditions across the area, firefighters had a difficult task in front of them to contain the blaze. It didn’t take long to determine that help would be needed to fight the fire, so firefighters from the Alpena, Wessington Springs, Letcher, Artesian, Mt. Vernon and Huron Rural Fire Departments came to help the Town and Country Fire District from Woonsocket. In addition, members of the Sanborn County Ambulance, Sanborn County Sheriff’s Office, Miner County Sheriff’s Office, South Dakota Highway Patrol and Jerauld County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the emergent area. Aerial help was also received to drop water from the sky, since the area hasn’t seen any water fall naturally for quite some time.

…Read on and see pictures in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!