Aberdeen Rural Fire Dept

07/24/2026

The Aberdeen Rural Fire Department recently received emergency drinking water through -Busch’s Emergency Drinking Water for Wildland Firefighters program. This donation will go a long way in helping our firefighters stay safe during long calls, high heat, and wildfire response operations. We’re grateful to Anheuser-Busch and National Volunteer Fire Council for supporting volunteer departments across the country, and to Doll Distributing - Huron for delivering the water to our station! Learn more: www.nvfc.org/water

This water will be shared with the other volunteer fire departments in Brown County:
Columbia Area Fire District
Groton Fire and Rescue
Stratford Community Fire Department
Warner Volunteer Fire Department
Frederick Area Fire & Rescue Volunteers
Claremont Fire Department
Hecla Fire Department

07/05/2026

On Friday July 3rd at approximately 11:15 AM the Aberdeen Rural Fire Department and Columbia Area Fire District were paged out for a diesel fuel tanker that was leaking fuel at the construction site near Spillway Drive and 382nd. Shortly after the initial page it was reported that the tanker trailer was on fire. While enroute to the fire Warner Volunteer Fire Department was also called for additional aid. Once on scene we found a semi-tanker on fire with fire spreading to one of the near-by pumps and other equipment. Firefighters worked to put the fire out on the pumps and worked to protect other nearby equipment from the tanker fire. Residents in the nearest homes to the scene were asked to evacuate for a short time. Aberdeen Fire Rescue also responded with their Hazardous Materials equipment and worked to mitigate any diesel fuel runoff from the fire. Aberdeen Rural units were on-scene until approximately 5:30PM.

Other agencies that responded to this incident:
Brown County Sheriff's Office
Brown County SD Office of Emergency Management
South Dakota Highway Patrol
South Dakota State Fire Marshal's Office
South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation

The cause of the leak and fire is under investigation.

Thank you to Domino's of Aberdeen, SD, The Salvation Army Aberdeen, Richmond Oasis, and the neighbors that brought food and drinks for our responders.

After this incident, before some of our firefighters were able to leave our station to go home, we were called for mutual aid to a structure fire with Stratford Community Fire Department and Warner Volunteer Fire Department. Some of our firefighters later last night also were on stand-by at the Richmond Lake fireworks show.

Thank you for all of the hard work to the people that responded to these events, we all had a very busy day.

05/27/2026

Thanks for the donation Area Federal Credit Union!

We love supporting the people who keep our community safe! 🔥

Our employee-led charity fund just donated $1,000 to the Aberdeen Rural Fire Dept. This donation will help provide critical resources for our local first responders. We are incredibly proud of our employees for prioritizing community impact! 🚒👨‍🚒

05/12/2026

Dry and very windy today. Burn ban today in Brown County. It sounds like the winds will die down Wednesday but then pick back up at the end of the week. If you had any burns planned, please hold off a few days.

Dry conditions will combine with northwest winds gusting to 35 to 45 mph to create high to very high grassland fire danger this afternoon. A Red Flag Warning is in effect this afternoon and evening for portions of the region.

05/08/2026

It’s going to be a dry and windy one today. No controlled burns today and check anything you have burned in the past week or two.

04/30/2026

We are happy to announce that we were one of the recipients of Glacial Lakes Energy grants. More information coming soon!

04/29/2026

Our annual Mother’s Day Pancake Feed is coming up on Sunday, May 10th, we will be serving from 8:00AM - 1:00PM. Hope to see you at our station on South 5th Street.

04/16/2026

Red Flag Warning for tomorrow - April 16th. High winds and temps along with low relative humidity will create elevated fire weather conditions.

A burn ban in Brown County will be in effect for Thursday due to these conditions. If you have had a controlled burn in the past couple months please check on them to make sure the wind and dry conditions don’t cause it to spread. Aberdeen Rural and Columbia Fire Departments responded to a grass fire a couple of weeks ago that had started from a tree pile that the owner stated had been out for over two weeks.

04/15/2026

Last night Aberdeen Rural Fire trained with Aberdeen Fire Rescue on airport operations and airport rescue firefighting. In the event of a major emergency at the airport Aberdeen Rural Fire will be a mutual aid responder. Joint training ensures both agencies understand how the other operates and what is expected when an emergency happens. Training included airfield emergency access locations, airfield tours, firefighting procedures for aircraft and relay pumping into ARFF (airport rescue firefighting) apparatus.

03/12/2026

Breezy and dry tomorrow. If you have had a tree pile or other controlled burns in the past couple months please keep an eye on it tomorrow.