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Firefighters Battle Several Blazes In Southern North Dakota

Associated Press0

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Grass fires fanned by strong winds in the Dakotas destroyed homes, shut down highways and prompted the evacuation of a small town on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation at the weekend, and the gusty weather was forecast to continue Monday.

The fires were contained Sunday and no injuries were immediately reported.

Several cities in the two states set hot weather records in the 90s Sunday, and the winds gusting more than 50 mph fueled the flames. Firefighters attributed the fires to sparks from passing trains and hot farm equipment.

“Wind is terrible. Absolutely terrible,” Dwight Assistant Fire Chief Clint Gilbertson told WDAY-TV.

At least three homes and a church were destroyed in Cannon Ball, and the 875 residents of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation community were evacuated when electrical poles were knocked down.

Several hay bales caught fire north of Cannon Ball on Saturday night, and the flames spread into town Sunday when winds gusted up to 60 mph, Tribal Emergency Manager Elliott Ward told The Bismarck Tribune. About 150 firefighters responded to the fire that scorched nearly 2 ½ square miles of the reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border.

“After they all got here, they knocked it down pretty good,” Ward said.

A blaze in Dickey and LaMoure counties blackened about 5 square miles, Dickey County Emergency Manager Charlie Russell told the American News. Firefighters in Stutsman County responded to nearly a dozen fires Sunday afternoon, and a blaze north of Jamestown destroyed one home and damaged several others, Stutsman County Emergency Manager Jerry Bergquist told KQDJ radio.

Fires temporarily shut down stretches of U.S. Highway 83 and Interstate 29 in North Dakota and U.S. Highway 14 in South Dakota.

Some of the people evacuated from Cannon Ball were taken to a tribal casino near Fort Yates. The Red Cross set up a shelter in Porcupine. Classes were canceled Monday at schools in Cannon Ball and nearby Solen.

The National Weather Service forecasts strong winds to continue in the region on Monday, with gusts up to 60 mph.

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Information from: Bismarck Tribune,

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