Crews Busy With Okreek Fire In Central SD

MISSION, SD - Fire crews from across the country are organizing in Mission, South Dakota, to battle the Okreek fire that's already consumed at least 20,000 acres of prairie.

The blaze started at around 12:40 p.m. Wednesday afternoon and was quickly spread by strong winds with gusts higher than 50 miles per hour.

Crews battled the fire throughout the night and had knocked down most of the flames by dawn. But that doesn't mean that the risk is over.

"Today they're predicting higher temps, lower RH (relative humidity), with a lot of wind. So if we have anything out there that's going to blow over the line, it's probably going to take off again," fire operations specialist Bob Oliver said.

An inter-agency fire response team has taken over command of the fire operations.

They'll be watching for any flare-ups and putting out any remaining hot spots. However, people are anticipating that the fire will flare up again.

Smoke from the Okreek Fire has made its way north to Murdo, South Dakota.  That's more than 40 miles away from where the fire is burning.