Independent news from the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance
May 1, 2024

News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

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UPDATE: Fire continues to burn near Mandaree

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear
by
jodi@imfreedomalliance.org https://twitter.com/JodiRave
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Dunn County Emergency Manager Denise Brew on Saturday, May 1, said the cause of a fire on the Fort Berthold Reservation was still undetermined. PHOTO CREDIT/JODI RAVE Dunn County Emergency Manager Denise Brew on Saturday, May 1, said the cause of a fire on the Fort Berthold Reservation was still undetermined. PHOTO CREDIT/JODI RAVE

By Buffalo’s Fire Staff

FORT BERTHOLD RESERVATION, N.D. – A fire burning south of Mandaree, N.D. was being contained on Sunday. It’s expected a coal seam started the fire that has burned an estimated 8,000 acres on the Fort Berthold Reservation. On May 2, a light rain fell helping to lessen the spread of the fire.

Denise Brew, Dunn County Emergency Management, told Buffalo’s Fire that Marle Baker, fire chief of the Mandaree Volunteer Fire Department was on the scene Saturday and unavailable for an update as Baker was in the Badlands area of the reservation.

The area has limited cell reception. As of 10:07 p.m. on May 1, the fire continued to burn. Western North Dakota has been under extreme drought conditions and extreme fire warnings.

Fire burns
A fire continues to burn Saturday, May 1, on the Fort Berthold Reservation. The nearest community is Mandaree, N.D. PHOTO CREDIT/JODI RAVE

Extreme drought conditions
Western North Dakota remains under extreme drought conditions.
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Jodi Rave Spotted Bear
jodi@imfreedomalliance.org https://twitter.com/JodiRave

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck, N.D. and the Fort Berthold Reservation. Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press. She's been awarded prestigious Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, respectively. She also an MIT Knight Science Journalism Project fellow. Her writing is featured in "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity," published by Columbia University Press. Jodi currently serves as a Society of Professional Journalists at-large board member, an SPJ Foundation board member, and she chairs the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. Jodi has won top journalism awards from mainstream and Native press organizations. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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