MYRTLE FIRE CONTAINED

The Myrtle Fire has been 100 percent contained. The Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team, led by Incident Commander Bill Hahnenberg, transitioned command of the Myrtle Fire this morning to a local Type 3 Team led by Incident Commander Tim Oliverius. 

Resources and crews that are no longer needed on the Myrtle Fire are being demobilized and reassigned to other incidents. Approximately 120 personnel are assigned to the fire and will slowly be released to other incidents as the objectives for the Myrtle Fire rehabilitation are accomplished. Most of these remaining resources are from out of the area in order to free local resources for initial attack response on new wildfires. 

Crews will continue to focus on mop-up and patrol, as well as rehabilitating the control lines. In addition, Black Hills Electric will begin replacing power lines that were damaged by the fire. 

As we reported yesterday, the fire was human caused by mechanical malfunction. The fire burned 10,080 acres and cost $4 million dollars.

As another reminder, Stage II Fire & Smoking Restrictions are in place on the Black Hills National Forest. Fireworks are always prohibited on public lands. For complete information on Stage II Fire & Smoking Restrictions, please visit http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5378450.pdf.