County Judge Darryl Mahoney issued a burn ban for the unincorporated area of Garland County on Friday.
The order came a day after dry conditions fueled a wildfire the county Department of Emergency Management said burned about 200 acres Thursday afternoon in the Jessieville area.
Smoke closed Highway 298 near the West Main Haul Road intersection for about half an hour Thursday, DEM Deputy Director Bobby King said Friday. It reopened about 5 p.m. King said to his knowledge no structures were damaged.
"With the road obliterated with smoke and possibly with flames jumping over to the south side of the highway, we chose to close the highway in both directions for a short period of time until they could get some water on those areas to prevent a flash over," King, who helped direct traffic, said.
"We opened it back up one direction at a time. We didn't want vehicles meeting each other in the smoke."
He said water the Jessieville and Piney fire departments put on the road kept the fire from jumping the highway. It's unclear how the fire started. A pasture of tall sage grass accelerated its spread.
"Once it hit that it took off," DEM Director Bo Robertson said.
Flames climbed as high as 10 feet as they approached a pine plantation owned by Green Bay Packing. King said the pulp and paper company offered assistance. Enable Gas Transmission also offered help. The fire was just east of where the pipeline company's pipe ruptured last October at the Jessieville Junction Station.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said corrosion caused the more than 50-year-old pipeline to rupture and release about 100,000 standard cubic feet of natural gas. The state Department of Agriculture's Forestry Division said the resulting fire burned about 2 acres.
The Forestry Division said the District 5 Region, which includes Garland County, had a 662 drought index reading Friday. The zero-to-800 scale measures ground moisture, with zero signifying no moisture depletion and 800 extreme drought conditions.
The city of Hot Springs issued a burn ban Thursday. Hot Springs Memorial Field recorded 1.05 inches of rain last month, or about a quarter of the normal rainfall for September. The 0.17 inches recorded Sept. 25 was the last day of measurable rainfall at the airport.
October has historically been one of the drier months. About half an inch has been recorded at the airport on average.
"There's no moisture, and no rain in the future," Robertson said. "It looks like it's going to be a really dry October."