A rekindle from a planned burn several days earlier led to an unplanned fire near Neosho Rapids on Friday.
Hartford-Neosho Rapids and Lyon County Rural firefighters, along with Lyon County deputies and staff with the Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge, went to the 1600 block of Road W, about two miles north of Neosho Rapids, around 4 pm. Hartford-Neosho Rapids Fire Chief Greg Zumbrunn says the fire was in a tree line and took about three hours to get under control.
Emporia Fire Capt. Wade Schmidt says the original fire was a controlled burn, but a stump wasn’t fully extinguished and flared up as conditions got breezier Friday afternoon. The resulting fire burned an unlisted number of trees and some ground-level brush. About three acres of property was burned.
There are no reports of injuries or structure damage.
Firefighters are urging landowners to check the weather forecasts for several days in advance to avoid the risk of rekindles, especially in situations like Sunday and Monday where extremely high non-thunderstorm winds are expected.
