BISMARCK — More than 560 acres burned in Clark and Hot Spring counties in fires that started early Friday afternoon. At least five structures were destroyed as of Friday evening, although none were homes.
One firefighter received medical treatment for smoke inhalation. No other injuries were immediately reported.
The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management received notification of the first fire at 1:11 p.m. The fire started in Clark County in the Amity community after a hay baler sparked a fire that spread to the pasture and then to Hot Spring County.
Between 75 and 100 people were evacuated Friday afternoon. The American Red Cross opened a shelter at Bismarck Elementary School, although no one showed up.
By 9:30 p.m., the shelter was closed, and residents were allowed to return home.
Clark County Emergency Manager Mikki Hastings said she hadn’t expected people to be evacuated for long, but that the blaze was moving fast enough for evacuation to be necessary.
The fire burned at least 400 acres, and was 80 percent contained as of late Friday evening.
Arkansas Forestry Commission workers fought the fire with eight plows and two aircraft.
Another fire caught in Clark County about half an hour after the first ignited. That blaze, just outside Gurdon, burned 160 acres but was completely contained as of Friday evening.
Firetrucks set up outside two homes early on, but the homes were safe and there were no planned evacuations, Hastings said. No cause had been immediately determined.
High temperatures, low humidity and lack of rainfall have made the area vulnerable to fires, Hastings said.
“We’ve kind of been expecting fires. With these kind of dry conditions and humidity levels, it doesn’t take a lot to start a fire,” she said. “We’re just hoping we don’t have any more today.”
Clark County has worked to manage resources between the fires, Hastings said. While the local fire departments have received enough assistance from their neighboring districts to manage the two wildfires, they’ve been careful to leave some resources at each department.
“These departments need to be close to home with conditions the way they are,” Hastings said.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 06/30/2012