The following pictures are from the burn site and give some added detail to the description above. View from Highway 44 Approaching Interior from the west, smoking buttes A helicopter dropped small ping pong balls that ignite the grass and started the interior of the burn area on fire. The balls are environmentally friendly and biodegradable. An all-terrain vehicle with a torch that dripped a mixture of gasoline and diesel fuel worked along the edge of the burn area. The white tank on top in front stored water for fire suppression if needed.
Fire spreads rapidly a few minutes after the chopper passed over.
The grass was not as green as is seen in this photo. The view from approximately10 miles to the west of the fire Finally a view from satellite GOES-8, over 20,000 miles away parked over the equator. The visible image shows a large smoke plume emanating from the fire and drifting downwind. Surface stations show a northwest flow out from a surface high-pressure axis across northwest South Dakota. The movement of this high was critical in determining the direction and speed of the winds across the fire.