Submitted Photo A tree displaying obvious indications of a lightning strike was found in the area of a wildfire occurring at Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site near Stanton on Friday.

STANTON – Swift response initiated by the Stanton Volunteer Fire Department and National Park Service suppressed a wildfire at Knife River Indian Villages National Historical Site near Stanton on Friday.

At 7:05 p.m., a National Park Service employee contacted Mercer County Sheriff’s Office dispatch to report a wildfire. The fire was near the Two Rivers Trail at the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. A large cloud of smoke was visible from town and was increasing in size. Within 10 minutes, members of the Stanton fire department and park service staff firefighters, who were first on scene, began fire suppression. The crews worked together for the next three and a half hours to secure the scene for the night. Park service personnel were back on the scene by 7 a.m. the next day and continued working to ensure that the wildfire stayed contained on a day with winds gusting up to 40 mph.

According to National Park Service information, the Two Rivers wildfire has been determined to be 7.4 acres in size and was caused by a lightning strike. There were thunderstorms in the area during Thursday and Friday afternoons. A tree displaying obvious indications of a lightning strike was found in the wildfire area and determined as the cause by the Stanton fire department and park service personnel. Lightning is the most common nonhuman cause of wildfire.

On Thursday, a prescribed fire of around 250 acres had been conducted in the park and was secured. The Two Rivers wildfire on Friday was on the opposite side of the Knife River at a distance of one-tenth of a mile away from the prescribed fire and is not related to the prescribed burn from the day before.