Thankfully, the areawide fire danger is out of the picture for now, but the past few days have seen significant fire activity across several area counties.
The largest fire affecting part of the area developed Sunday, when the so-called Middle Creek Fire started along Kansas Highway 150 between Chase County C Road and Marion County Clover Road. The fire moved to the northeast, driven into areas of rough terrain and poor road networks by winds gusting to 40-60 mph.
Firefighters responded from Marion, Chase County, Cedar Point, Newton, Peabody, Hesston and Harvey County, with air support from the Kansas Forest Service and Ag Air Service. It still took close to eight hours to get the fire controlled, with hot spots under investigation for several hours afterward. All told, the fire burned about 2,600 acres or over four square miles. Marion County has not updated whether there were any injuries or destroyed buildings as part of that fire.
Meanwhile, Lyon County firefighters were busy Sunday as well. Emporia Fire handled a combine fire in the middle of a bean field in the 1400 block of Kansas Highway 99, less than two miles south of Emporia, and did so before it spread to any nearby grasses or crops. The combine is a total loss.
Allen-Admire, Miller and Reading firefighters were called to two fires in northeast Lyon County within 30 minutes of each other Sunday evening, with fires developing near Road 400 and X — the Wabaunsee County line — and near Road 380 and W. Both were contained within 90 minutes of being announced. Causes and damage reports for both fires are pending.
Conditions were increasingly ripe for fire growth through the weekend, with warmer-than-normal temperatures, dry grasses and — at least Sunday — extremely high winds. The Emporia Municipal Airport recorded a 55 mph peak wind gust between 5-6 pm but had several other gusts above 50 mph through the day. The high winds also caused numerous small power outages in Emporia, Virgil and Burlington, according to Evergy.
Fire activity Saturday was minimal, with small fires reported in Chase and Morris counties. No injuries or structure damage was reported with either incident. Several fire departments in Lyon, Coffey and Osage counties responded to a 300-acre grass fire near Reading on Friday.
