Black Hills town evacuates as fire creates threat

DEADWOOD, S.D. -- Residents of this Black Hills gambling town were ordered to evacuate Saturday because of an approaching wildfire, though by nightfall the main fire line had passed without damaging structures, fire officials said.

Scott Randolph, a spokesman for the Lawrence County Office of Emergency Management, said that didn't mean Deadwood was out of danger, but he said no structures burned when flames singed the edges of town.

The fire was 700 acres and growing, said Steve Hasenorhl of the South Dakota Wildlands Fire Suppression Division.

"It's really pretty chaotic up there right now," he said.

Gov. Bill Janklow issued the evacuation order after the fire jumped a highway on the outskirts of town late in the afternoon. Some evacuees went to the YMCA in Lead.

The first of the requested C-130 air tankers arrived Saturday evening. An estimated 200 firefighters were on the job and another 200 were on the way, Hasenorhl said.