Fall River County Emergency Management officials say people who decide to return to their homes should keep their bags packed because they may be asked to evacuate again due to the erratic nature of the blaze.

The Great Plains Fire Dispatch says the number of people who left their homes was not known.

According to Great Plains Fire Dispatch the fire near Hot Springs had grown to 560 acres and was 40 percent contained.

The Rapid City Journal says firefighters working with cooler temperatures and higher humidity continue to build containment lines using dozers, hand crews and engines.

The fire started just off state Highway 18 Saturday afternoon. No injuries have been reported and no structures burned.

Meanwhile Yosemite National Park is set to reopen after a 20-day closure that cost the surrounding communities an estimated $50 million in lost tourism dollars.

Yosemite Valley, which includes most of the park's major attractions, is set to reopen Tuesday but hotels and other businesses say it will likely be weeks before bookings return to normal levels.

The nearly three-week closure was the result of a nearby massive wildfire that has burned 150 square miles and killed two firefighters since it started July 13.

The blaze is one of several in California that in less than three weeks have destroyed more than 1,000 homes and killed at least a dozen people. The latest fatality was a Utah firefighter killed Monday in a blaze north of San Francisco.


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