Qury fire now over 7,200 acres

The Qury Fire, which is now listed at 7,200a cres, has claimed structures on 10 properties, it was reported last evening during a special community forum regarding the fire held at the Custer Jr./Sr. High School Theater.
Custer County Sheriff's Office Lt. Derrick Reifenrath told the assembled crowd that structures lost varied from outbuildings and garages to homes. He did not say how many homes were lost.
"So far we have spoken with all those property owners and notified them of their losses and also provided photos for them to make arrangements if they are out state or just can't get back to the fire burn area currently," he said.
Reifenrath asked people to be patient with the road closures in the area, saying there are narrow roads and a lot of fire apparatus and emergency vehicles are moving around on the roads, and there is thick, heavy smoke in the area. There is also hazards as far as trees and other things that could fall on the roadways. He said the roads would be opened as quickly as possible.
"All roads within the burn area are still closed," he said.
Starting last night, property owners were allowed back into their properties if they lived on Hazelrodt Cutoff or one of the deadend roads off Hazelrodt Cutoff, the north end of Glen Erin Road, and Lower French Creek Road between Hazelrodt Cutoff and Whitetail Road. To do that “rapid tags” are required, which can be obtained at the Custer County Search and Rescue building. Because the roads are closed, Reifenrath said, it is a criminal offense to drive around the barricades. The rapid tag allows residents to go around the barricades to their home.
"The one thing we ask is you go around, you go to your property, and you don't go and sight see," he said. "Please go to your property and handle that."
He also asked them to be aware of smoldering fuel and debris, and to contract the power company if any downed power lines are spotted.
Reifenrath also said there were reports people were using dozer lines as roads for ATVs and UTVs. 
"It's not only stupid, it's not helping anybody," Reifenrath said earlier. "It's illegal. If you are caught doing that you will be turned over to the Forest Service for prosecution."
The first person to speak at the meeting was Adam Ziegler, operations section chief of the fire.
Ziegler said two fires started at once—the Deer Fire and the Qury Fire—before the fires came together and made a push, including over to Hwy. 87, with a small spot fire over the highway. There is a horseshoe of unburned area in the fire footprint where there is quite a few structures Ziegler said. 
"We have folks in there keeping that secure, so that area has not burned," he said.
Ziegler said firefighters were divided into four different divisions—Alpha, Charley, Foxtrot and November. In Alpha they have secured the west side out to 341 Road and wrapped that around to north to French Creek Road. Crews are mopping and patrolling that area. Further east toward Custer State Park from Lower French Creek Road, crews worked dozer lines, hand lines and used natural barriers, working in conjunction with Charley Division off Hwy. 87 with dozer line. Both divisions have quite a few resources in there getting things secure, he said.
"We do have favorable conditions with a wind shift that happened this afternoon," Ziegler said. The fire pushed up to Mt. Coolidge proper, and crews secured that area. 
Further south on Division Foxtrot the line was open and crews were looking for opportunities to use old road bed to make fire footprint smaller, but the fire moved quickly, and it was likely crews would have to back off to a road for a barrier. Because of conditions no burnouts had been conducted in that division as of the evening meeting. In Division November an anchor point was established, and crews were able to utilize the road system, dozer lines and creeks and piece that down to Glen Erin Road.
"There has been great work done by the firefighters," he said. "Only about 48 hours in, a lot of lines are secured."
Ziegler said no containment was being shown at the time, but as of now there is 2 percent containment being reported. An in-depth discussion on how containment is determined is available on the Qury Fire Facebook page.
"We do have a day and a night shift so our firefighters are in there 24/7 working on it," he said.
Ziegler said the weather would dictate what crews could do over the next few days, saying if there were a lot of snow received it would hold up the fire, but would not put it out.
He said ideally they were prefer no snow there so they can continue with ideal conditions. However, Custer did receive snow over night.
Todd Hoover, incident commander, thanked the community of Custer for everything it had done to support the firefighters, first responders and those displaced by the fire.
"We have a lot of local businesses step up and feed and support the firefighters," he said.
Hoover also mentioned the support firefighters have received on social media, of which he said they are aware.
"It means a lot. They do see those comments. It helps keep morale up," he said.
Hoover praised the interagency cooperation at the local, state and federal level, including emergency management, Custer County and the City of Custer, which he said has helped keep wells going to provide water for fire crews. He said firefighters have arrived in Custer from as far away as Virginia. Air assets, including the National Guard, are also being used in the battle.
Hoover called the situation "organized chaos," saying what started as a beautiful morning quickly went bad as the winds arrived and blew so hard it was picking gravel up off the roadway as firefighters arrived on scene. Hoover said the fire spread up Custer Mountain in ways "we rarely see" because of the wind, saying the warm temperatures, low humidity and wind allowed the fire to spread quickly.
"It did not take long for us to realize this was not going to be a normal initial attack," he said, adding firefighters had to change strategy quickly and get out in front of the fire, identify threatened structures and work to protect them. Many homes and buildings had engines sitting in front of them with water. At times, he said, the smoke was so thick he couldn't see the front of his vehicle.
There have been no injuries or deaths reported due to the fire. The fire has 280 people working on it, and is 7,200 acres.