Emporia Fire is restricting access to Jones Park on Tuesday afternoon as it conducts a six-acre prescribed burn.
EFD says the restricted access will include the playground and disc golf courses, weather permitting.
The Fire Department’s controlled burn plan Tuesday dovetails with the standard increase in controlled burns this time of year — as well as questions about burn policy in and out of the Emporia city limits. Battalion Chief Ryan Conley says there are some definite do’s and don’ts for city residents:
Burn hours in Emporia are from 7 am to 7 pm. Wind speeds must below 15 mph and residents need some sort of water source or extinguishing method nearby. Controlled burns also must be at least 50 feet away from other nearby structures. In-town residents need to call the Emporia Fire headquarters at 620-343-4230 at the start and end of their burns.
For Lyon County residents, the longstanding policy of obtaining burn permits — and then notifying authorities when burns are done — still applies, according to Lyon County Emergency Management Director Jarrod Fell. He says lyoncounty911.org has a straightforward approach to reporting the start and end of your burn.
Residents uncomfortable with going online can call the Lyon County Emergency Communications non-emergency phone number at 620-343-4225. However, Fell says the online approach has lifted a heavy burden from Lyon County’s emergency dispatchers. Fell says the online policy has lowered dispatcher workload by around 10,000 calls.
On top of these information points, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has activated its Smoke Management Tool online at ksfire.org. It includes computer models that help landowners and others, including city and county administrators, plan for possible smoke direction and air quality impacts.
