Wildfire, Brown
- When
- May 3, 12:00 PM CST to 10:00 PM CST
- Where
- Brown County, 1 mi W of Claremont
- Reported by
- FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
- Coordinates
- 45.590, -98.352 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Wildfire in South Dakota, May 3, 2002
With low humidity, very dry vegetation, and increasing south winds, embers from a day old controlled burn initiated a large grassland fire in the early afternoon hours west of Claremont. South winds of 30 to 40 mph gusting to 50 mph caused the fire to spread quickly.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS ABR wrote it up.
With low humidity, very dry vegetation, and increasing south winds, embers from a day old controlled burn initiated a large grassland fire in the early afternoon hours west of Claremont. South winds of 30 to 40 mph gusting to 50 mph caused the fire to spread quickly. The fire expanded to 4 miles wide and spread 4 miles north before it was contained late in the evening. Many trees along with a mobile home, an abandoned house, and an old barn were also burned. Seven miles of road had to be closed due to poor visibility in smoke. Eleven fire departments with nearly 150 firefighters extinguished the fire. The fire was completely put out during the afternoon hours of the 4th. This was one of the largest grassland fires in Brown County history.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Aberdeen, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 3, 2:45 AM CST, 9 hours 15 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 3, 2:45 AM CST, 9 hours 15 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR CENTRAL/N-EAST SD AND W-CENTRAL MN NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 345 AM CDT FRI MAY 3 2002 LOOKS LIKE WIND WILL BECOME THE MAIN CONCERN FOR THE DAY AND EVENING HOURS THIS FORECAST. SYSTEM DROPPING SOUTH OUT OF SRN CANADA LOOKS QUITE DYNAMIC AND QUICK MOVING. BOTH ETA AND AVN HANDLE THIS SYSTEM IN A SIMILAR MANNER. BOTH KEEP THE SFC LOW WELL NORTH OF THE REGION AND BOTH APPEAR TO OVERFORECAST MSTR RETURN TODAY. DEW POINTS TO THE SOUTH REMAIN IN THE 30S INTO NRN KS. WITH THE SYSTEM MOVING QUITE QUICKLY FEEL DEEP MOISTURE WILL HAVE TROUBLE RETURNING. GOOD LOW/MID LVL OMEGA ASCD WITH THE SFC FNT AND MID LVL WAVE THIS EVENING...BUT LACK OF MOISTURE SHOULD LIMIT DEEP CONVECTION. LIS ALSO FORECAST TO GET NO WORSE THAN AROUND -1. AHEAD OF THE BOUNDARY GRADIENT WILL TIGHTEN ACROSS THE EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE CWA...EVEN WITH LOW CENTER REMAINING TO THE NORTH. AM A BIT CONCERNED THAT EASTERN AREAS WILL REACH ADVISORY CRITERIA. ETA PRODUCES WINDS ABOUT 10 TO 15 MPH STRONGER THAN THE AVN. WITH BEST PRESSURE FALLS NORTH OF THE CWA WILL OPT FOR JUST 20 TO 30 MPH BUT MAY NEED TO UPGRADE LATER. BEHIND THE FRONT NORTHWEST WINDS SHOULD KICK IN BUT LAST ONLY A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. THIS WILL SPREAD OVER MOST OF THE CWA WITH AT LEAST BREEZY THIS EVENING. HIGH SLIDES ACROSS SATURDAY THEN FRONT RETURNS AS A WARM FRONT LATE SUNDAY. NEW AVN SUPPORTING PREVIOUS MODELS WITH ENOUGH MOISTURE AND LIFT FOR SOME WARM FRONTAL PCPN ACROSS THE FAR EAST SUNDAY. NEW MEDIUM RANGE GUIDANCE SIMILAR TO PREVIOUS RUNS WITH SAGGING LONG WAVE TROF SOUTH TOWARD THE REGION. ANOTHER COLD FRONT DROPS SOUTH ON MONDAY THEN STALLS SOUTH OF THE REGION AS UPPER FLOW BECOMES MORE PARALLEL TO THE LOW LVL BOUNDARY. WITH WEAK SHORT WAVES TRAVELING ENE THROUGH THE FLOW WILL LIKELY SEE A CHANCE OF PCPN THROUGH WEDNESDAY. .ABR...NONE FAUCETTE
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Wildfire
- A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Flash Flood and Hail in Texas, May 3, 2002
- High Wind in Massachusetts, May 3, 2002
- High Wind in New York, May 3, 2002
- Flash Flood in Alabama, May 3 to 4, 2002
- High Wind in Vermont, May 3, 2002
- Strong Wind in Maine, May 3, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in South Carolina, May 3 to 4, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, May 3, 2002
- Strong Wind in New Hampshire, May 3, 2002
- Lightning Strike in Alabama, May 3, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in South Carolina, May 3, 2002
- High Wind in South Dakota, May 3, 2002
More
Every storm in South Dakota in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, May 2002
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5299776.