Posted by Hogryder on September 05, 2000 at 03:42:56:
In Reply to: He's right on that idea posted by Linnette on September 04, 2000 at 00:20:23:
Didn't have any fire near us, just smoke. Cough, cough. About 10% of the Black Hills are now really BLACK! Spent some time in western Montana with family and it's a lot worse up there. Luckily none of my relatives lost their homes, mostly due to preparations. My cousin and her family got a 500 gallon fuel tank, hooked it up to supply their generator, used that to power their well pump and ran sprinklers on their roof and all around their house 24 hours a day. They left it running when they were evacuated and the fire fighters said they saw burning branches land on the roof (cedar shakes) and go out. They also cut down and raked up the grass in their pastures within 100 feet of the house. The fire burned completely around their house and within a few feet of their greenhouse. Melted the plastic on one side but didn't burn anything.
Fire didn't get anywhere near Mt. Rushmore but the smoke kept most of the tourists out, locals too.
Keep on bikin'