BUCYRUS, N.D. (AP) — The state fire marshal has concluded that the cause of a fire that devastated the small southwestern North Dakota town of Bucyrus can’t be determined.

The Dickinson Press reported that the state fire marshal’s office issued its findings on Friday.

Deputy Fire Marshall Don Temple stated in the report that the fire started Oct. 17 on farmland in western Adams County. The fire burned nearly 6,000 acres, destroyed four homes and several of other structures in the community.

No injuries were reported.

The report said the fire started on land owned by Mike Mellmer of Reeder and originated about 40 feet from a site where he burned and buried an outbuilding in March.

“It’s difficult to know how it started,” Hettinger Fire Chief Mark Faller said. “I wasn’t there when it ignited and, as far as I know, nobody knows how that fire started.”

Seven homes and the town’s Lutheran church were spared from the blaze that was pushed by winds of nearly 70 mph.

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BUCYRUS, N.D. (AP) – The wildfire that devastated the small southwestern North Dakota town of Bucyrus (byoo-CY’-ruhs) has been ruled accidental, but the cause likely will never be known.

Adams County State’s Attorney Aaron Roseland says

there is not enough evidence for investigators to determine the

cause of the fire Oct. 17 and 18 that swept through the town,

forcing the evacuation of its 27 residents and burning four homes

to the ground.

Deputy State Fire Marshal Don Temple tells The Bismarck Tribune

that the blaze started in a stubble field about 40 feet from where an abandoned farmstead building had been burned and buried last March. He says there is no reason to think there is any connection.

Roseland says there is nothing to indicate the wildfire was

deliberately set.

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BUCYRUS, N.D. (AP) – A relief fund has been set up for residents of Bucyrus (byoo-SY’-ruhs) after a wildfire swept through the small southwestern North Dakota community.

     Dakota Plains Federal Credit Union in Hettinger has set up a fund, and also has established a $50,000 pool from which to make low-interest loans to fire victims.
     Authorities say the Wednesday fire destroyed four homes, two
vacant farms and a picture-framing business.

The cause of the fire that was fanned by strong winds was not immediately determined.
None of the two dozen residents of the town was hurt.
     Mike and Evelyn Krug are among those who lost their home. Evelyn
Krug says  she doesn’t know how the community will move on.

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 BUCYRUS, N.D. (AP) – The chairman of the Adams County Commission says the destruction of one of the county’s communities by a wildfire is devastating.

 Chuck Christman (KRIHST’-muhn) says four of the seven or eight homes in Bucyrus (byoo-SY’-rus) were destroyed in the Wednesday fire, displacing all 27 residents.

 The blaze scorched an area six miles long and half a mile wide.

All Bucyrus’ residents have been evacuated and a shelter has been established in the nearby town of Hettinger, about 60 miles south of Dickinson.

He says that’s a lifetime of memories for at least four families.
     Christman says firefighters were able to save a church in the
town, and a privately owned elevator on the outskirts wasn’t
damaged in the town of about 30 residents.

The town’s only business, a picture-framing shop, was destroyed.

Scranton fire chief Ryan Schumacher says firefighters had the blaze under control late Wednesday despite winds gusting more than 60 mph.

Schumacher says “the town is basically gone.”
     Christman says the state fire marshal will be investigating the
cause of the fire that also destroyed an abandoned farmstead and
about 70 electrical power poles and forced the temporary shutdown
of U.S. Highway 12.