Dry conditions led to several grass fires in Lyon County on Friday, and the fire danger remains at least at very high levels areawide through the weekend.
Greenwood County is in a red flag warning between 12-7 pm, meaning an automatic burn ban for county residents. Chase and Coffey counties are in separate burn bans until further notice, while Osage County is in a burn ban Saturday. Decisions on daily burn bans from Morris and Wabaunsee counties will be announced later Saturday.
On Friday, numerous departments at the county and state levels ultimately battled a roughly 300-acre grass fire that developed near Roads 240 and V when a grain truck caught fire shortly before 11 am. Within 15 minutes, the fire had spread to nearby grass. Eventually, Miller, Reading, Lyon County District 4, Hartford-Neosho Rapids, Coffey County and Osage County fire units, along with Lyon County Emergency Management, Lyon County Highway Department and the Kansas Department of Transportation, were all involved during the better-than-three-hour firefighting effort.
Emergency Management Director Jarrod Fell says conditions are ripe for fires.
The cause of the truck fire has not been determined. Nobody was hurt and there are no reports of structural damage, even with the fire near the Southern Power wind energy facility.
Later in the day, around 4:30 pm, Hartford-Neosho Rapids was called out to Roads 80 and V after a hay swather began smoking due to electrical issues. Fire Chief Greg Zumbrunn says no grass caught fire.
Almost simultaneously, Emporia Fire was called to a small grass fire at 13th and Sunnyslope. That fire burned a small patch of grass but did not affect any nearby homes or other structures. The cause is under investigation.
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