When the sun came up Wednesday morning and fire crews had a chance to survey the devastation, what they found was staggering: the Legion Lake Fire had grown from around 4,000 acres on Tuesday to more than 35,000 acres, or roughly 55 square miles.

By Wednesday evening, the total acreage burned stood at more than 47,000 acres. The fire is 10 percent contained, and a cause has not been determined.

While no one has been injured in the fire, 175 homes were ordered to evacuate Tuesday night because of the dangerous conditions. Included in the order were the small towns of Fairburn and Buffalo Gap and residents between the park and Highway 79 to the east.

A majority did heed the call to leave, scrambling to load pickup-drawn livestock trailers with cattle and horses, according to Custer State Park ranger Jim Ganser.

“The neat thing was there was a lot of neighbor helping neighbor, which is what they do around here,” Ganser said.

According to a release from the Legion Lake Fire Information Center, firefighters made a stand along Highway 79, successfully setting burnouts along the west side of the highway north of Maverick Junction to help stall the fire’s advance.