Area fire crews were busy Thursday putting out fires in far less than ideal conditions, and they are hoping to avoid a repeat Friday.
There was a concern about a potential structure fire at Emporia’s Village Elementary shortly before 4:45 am Friday, but Emporia Fire Battalion Chief Ryan Conley says there was no actual fire. Instead, a furnace unit was functioning as intended, although it didn’t have its front facing attached, so crews went available shortly after an initial investigation.
Conley says the fire danger materialized Thursday with a fire call in the 1800 block of Road B near Plymouth shortly before 3 pm.
No injuries were reported.
Also, a large grass fire developed early Thursday afternoon in southeast Marion County near Florence and wasn’t put out until the early evening hours. Units from Cedar Point and Strong City were among those that responded. Marion County spokesperson Marcy Hostetler says between 1,000 and 1,500 acres were burned, based on estimates from the Kansas Forestry Services, but no structures were affected, no people were hurt and no livestock were killed. The cause is unknown.
This was the second major grass fire in Marion County this fall, following a roughly 2,500-acre fire Oct. 23.
Wind gusts were above 40 mph for several hours Thursday, and gusts already started topping 40 mph before 3 am Friday. Gusts could be as high as 45 mph the rest of the day, so the National Weather Service has issued wind advisories for all area counties from 9 am to midnight — except Greenwood County, which is in a separate advisory from 9 am to 6 pm. The combination of warming temperatures, dry grasses and those high winds have firefighters asking residents to be careful with anything fire-related Friday.
Conley says extra care should be taken inside the Emporia city limits as well as rural areas.
Meanwhile, rainfall last weekend meant virtually no movement in drought coverage as indicated by the US Drought Monitor.
Moderate drought continues across Lyon, Chase and Osage counties, as well as northwest Coffey, northwest Greenwood, southeast Morris and southeast Wabaunsee counties. Severe drought covers most of Coffey County. Greenwood County, meanwhile, still ranges from moderate drought in the north part of the county to exceptional drought along and south of US Highway 54.
KVOE listeners got anywhere from half an inch to over two inches of rainfall this past Saturday and Sunday. It was the most significant rainfall for the area since 2-4 inches of rain Nov. 4-6.
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