STURGIS, S.D. (AP) -- Crews have established a line around the season's first big wildfire in the Black Hills. The Camp 5 Fire was declared contained at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Cooler temperatures and light rain continued Tuesday, allowing the 150 people fighting the fire to make good progress building the rest of the fire line and extinguishing hot spots.
Officials said the number of firefighters would drop to 55 Tuesday evening.
The fire burned 775 acres, or a little more than 1 square mile. It broke out Sunday afternoon about halfway between Deadwood and Sturgis. No cause has been determined yet.
Spokeswoman Brenda Bowen at the Great Plains Dispatch Center said crews now are working on getting the fire under control. Much of the timetable for that depends on the weather, she said, adding that crews already have done quite a bit of mop-up.
''Everything looks really good,'' Bowen said.
Forecasters said rain or snow could fall in the Deadwood area Tuesday night, Wednesday and Thursday.
Control is achieved when the fire line is reinforced so that flare-ups within the perimeter can't escape, officials said in a release. Crews will continue to mop up and patrol the fire until all hot spots that could escape are extinguished, the release said.
Gene Bolka, information officer for the Camp 5 Fire, said light mist that started to fall Tuesday morning helped.
''It has slowed down the fire quite a bit,'' he said, adding that it also made the area slippery for crews.
Those working the fire included personnel from the National Park Service, Forest Service, state and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
