2,500-acre wildfire shuts down Custer State Park in South Dakota

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Park officials closed and evacuated Custer State Park in South Dakota due to a wildfire that had consumed more than 2,500 acres by Monday afternoon.

The Legion Lake Fire started around 7:30 a.m. in the Black Hills near where U.S. Highway 16A and South Dakota Highway 87 North intersect, Custer State Park superintendent Matt Snyder told the Rapid City Journal. The blaze was burning on both sides of Badger Clark Road.

Custer County Emergency Management announced the evacuation of a lodge in the area and the closing of all major roads in and out of the state park.

Snyder said the fire appears to have been started by a power line downed by a falling tree. It was spreading to the southeast, spurred on by 35-mph winds.

The Argus Leader reported another blaze, the Bug Fire, which has burned 12.5 acres about 6 miles north of Custer.