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http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/07/05/news/top/doc468dbe383dfa3217142714.txt

Fireworks touch off more than 200 fires July 4th on Pine Ridge Reservation
By Heidi Bell Gease, Journal staff
Fireworks sparked hundreds of small grass fires in and near Pine Ridge on July 4, but a contingent of experienced firefighters helped keep them from getting out of hand.


Daigre Douville fought fires on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for 10 years before becoming fire-management officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs Pine Ridge Agency Fire Management Office last year.

"I've never seen it like this, like it was last night. It was just unbelievable," he said Thursday. "We weren't even dispatching out of the office. We just had people driving around, kind of roving all over the place."

Dispatchers said they logged more than 200 fires Wednesday night alone. All were started by fireworks, Douville said.

Oglala Sioux tribal law allows fireworks to be sold and discharged on the reservation, but officials said fireworks are banned on BIA property and in tribal housing areas. With a limited police force and lots of kids with bottle rockets, those rules are almost impossible to enforce. That, coupled with tinder-dry conditions on the reservation, has been a concern to firefighters for the past few years.

Douville's office beefed up its summer protection this year with two strike teams and about a dozen engine crews from throughout the region. A heavy air tanker is also stationed at Pine Ridge Airport. The 800-gallon tanker has made three drops since Sunday, spraying fire retardant to protect housing areas, Douville said. The biggest fire so far was a 183-acre blaze at Slim Buttes.

An air tanker will likely remain stationed at Pine Ridge through Labor Day, fire officials said.

This year, tribal ordinance allowed fireworks sales from June 15 through July 4. The first day, fireworks caused a blaze that destroyed a structure. Douville said about eight structures have been lost to fireworks since then, including a few occupied homes. Bottle rockets were going off inside one house while firefighters extinguished the blaze.

"Our firefighters have done a superb job," Douville said. "We've got some pretty savvy firefighters here, lots of experience."

With this July 4th safely behind them, the fire management office and tribal leaders are already talking about ways to make things safer next year. Douville would like to see the tribe follow the state's practice of allowing fireworks sales only between June 27 and July 4. They're also talking about water resources.

"We're trying to address this stuff and see what we can do to make our community safer, fire-wise and with the persistent drought we've been in over the past few years," he said. "It doesn't look like any relief in sight, either."

The Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Water Maintenance and Conservation issued a water-restriction notice Thursday, asking residents to water lawns and wash cars only between 8 p.m. and midnight. "Failure to abide with the water restriction notice may result in termination of water services," a news release from the office stated.

Tribal officials urged residents to report leaking fixtures, make sure toilets aren't running, use correct water settings in washing machines and practice other conservation measures. For more information, call Willard or Reno at 867-1999.

Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or [email protected]
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