May is Wildfire Awareness Month and with much of the state in a drought officials are urging homeowners to prepare for fire.
SDPB’s Charles Michael Ray spoke with three different experts in three different locations.
First, the history of fire in the Black Hills with a look at stands of pitch stumps that historically burned.
Then to a stand of pines on private land near a housing development that was recently thinned thanks to a state program attempting to reduce the wildfire danger.
And, finally, to thick overgrown pine trees on Skyline Drive in the middle of Rapid City where officials worry about a scenario similar to the Colorado fires in 2012 and 2013 in which hundreds of homes burned in an urban area.
Click play below to listen to the program:
There are a number of resources for those who wish to know more about how to reduce the impacts of fire on a home or property.
They include:
SD Wildfire Awareness Month
Fire Wise
Great Plains Fire Safe Council
Junk the Junipers
Fire Adapted Communities