An active day for grass fires culminated with major fires, one in eastern Lyon County and two in Wabaunsee County.
Fire crews had already worked numerous fires across the area starting shortly before 1 pm before the Wabaunsee County fires developed, one that started near the Lyon County line north of Allen and another that threatened Lake Wabaunsee to the point where deputies issued an evacuation order. Kansas Forestry has been inspecting the area. No injuries have been reported.
Shortly after the Road 400 fire developed, a fire touched off in the 1600 block of Road V-5. That fire eventually ran northeast to Roads 200 and X, or about five miles, and damaged a home and several outbuildings in the 1700 block of Road 175. The fire and related smoke also forced the closure of Interstate 35 and US Highway 50 between Road U and the Coffey County line.
Two people from that scene were taken to Newman Regional Health for possible smoke inhalation. The Road V-5 fire was contained shortly before 9 pm, but there were a lot of hot spots so fire crews will monitor the scene through at least Saturday morning.
Friday’s fires were the direct result of a combination of critical fire danger components: air temperatures in the mid-70s, dry grasses, low relative humidity levels and wind gusts at or above 60 mph. Some peak wind gusts:
*Emporia: 60 mph
*6 miles west of Elmdale: 59 mph
*2 miles north of Eureka: 60 mph
*Homestead Ranch near Matfield Green: 55 mph
*New Strawn: 60 mph
*7 miles south-southwest of Reece: 77 mph
The winds caused a long list of power outages that eventually led to nearly 4,000 Evergy customers areawide losing power through the afternoon, including the Lyon County Courthouse, Lyon County History Center and Lee Beran Recreation Center. Less than 200 were offline as of 9 pm.
There was also notable structural damage:
*Roof peeled off a store in Burlington
*Unspecified structural damage to a commercial building in Eureka
*Outbuilding roofs damaged near Hamilton
Lyon County residents with structural damage from Friday’s fire activity are asked to call the Lyon County Emergency Communications non-emergency phone number at 620-343-4225.
7 pm Friday: Wildfire activity shuts down portion of Interstate 35 between Road U and Lyon/Coffey County line
Widespread fire activity across the KVOE Listening area is now impacting travel conditions.
The Kansas Highway Patrol has shut down traffic in both directions on Interstate 35 between Road U and Lyon/Coffey County line due to both wildfire activity and heavy smoke in the area.
Motorists are being advised to find alternate routes of travel until further notice. Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for additional updates.
5:30 pm Friday:
High winds and catastrophic fire danger are continuing to stretch local resources extremely thin across the KVOE listening area with a high number of fires and power outages developing since the early afternoon hours Friday.
During KVOE’s 5:05 newscast, Emporia Fire Captain Willie Ward says all departments, including Emporia and most volunteer departments, have been extremely busy battling both downed power lines and fires across the area.
The workload for local crews kicked off around 1:45 pm when Greenwood County fire fighters and Olpe Fire were called to 1362 390th, 21 miles southwest of Emporia and just over 10 miles northwest of Madison, for a brush fire. Hartford-Neosho Rapids Fire was toned out for mutual aid shortly after the initial call.
Emporia and Americus firefighters were then called to 949 Road 212, just over six miles north of Emporia. In Emporia, fire crews were called to the 2600 block of Apple Drive for a report of a trampoline in a light pole.
Allen-Admire and Miller firefighters were called to a stretch of Road 400, the Lyon-Wabaunsee county line, for a reportedly significant grass fire shortly before 4:45 pm. Also in Wabaunsee County, Lake Wabaunsee was put under an evacuation order before 5 pm due to grass fire activity nearby.
Other reported fire scenes:
*Road 130 and J
*2800 block L
*Interstate 35 and Burlingame
*Roads 50 and Z
*1600 block V
Ward says one of the biggest challenges they have faced throughout the day is keeping fires contained due to the high wind speeds with southerly winds staying consistent between 25-35 mph with gusts as high as 60 mph throughout the day.
That said, Fell tells KVOE News if a fire does develop residents should report it immediately.
As fire crews continue work to keep flames under control, local utility companies have been hard at work the last several hours trying to restore power to thousands of customers. In Emporia, a slew of outages continue to affect roughly 2,800 customers with outages scattered across town.
The largest, which developed around 3:30 pm, is now affecting just over 1,500 residents from the edge of the ESU campus to as far south as Road 135 on South Kansas Highway 99, east to Sylvan Street and west to Albert Street.
Another large-scale outage developed around the same timeframe, stretching from Morris to Lyon County, specifically from Council Grove down a southeast line to Emporia, affecting another 800 customers. Evergy crews had that number down to just over 130 by 2:30 pm and had all customers back online by 3 pm.
Evergy Director of Corporate Communications Gina Penzig tells KVOE News that crews have been working diligently to restore power throughout the day, however, the high winds can slow that work down as linemen have to take several precautions to work efficiently but safely.
With the high winds expected to continue into the evening hours, Penzig says residents should be prepared to experience more than one outage before all is said and done.
Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for more updates as they become available.
2:30 pm Friday:
More than 3,000 Evergy customers are currently offline due to widespread power outages both in and around Emporia.
According to the Evergy outage map, more than 2,900 customers are affected by an outage stretching from central Emporia, specifically the edge of Emporia State, south to just past Road 135 on South Kansas Highway 99, west from Commercial to Funston Street and east from Commercial to as far as East South Avenue. Separately, another 800 customers are offline, thanks to an outage stretching from Emporia to Council Grove.
The outages are affecting traffic lights across Emporia with lights off from From 6th Avenue south to 12th Avenue. With traffic lights down, the Emporia Police Department is telling drivers who approach an intersection where traffic lights are not functioning to treat it as a four-way stop.
This means coming to a complete stop, yielding to the right of way and being extra cautious before entering the intersection.
Evergy has crews on their way to the affected areas, and restoration times are currently pending. Correspondence from Evergy claims the high winds, which picked up just before noon Friday, are the likely cause; however, further details are currently pending.
Meanwhile, area fire crews are extremely busy across the area. Around 1:45 pm, Greenwood County fire fighters and Olpe Fire were called to 1362 390th, 21 miles southwest of Emporia and just over 10 miles northwest of Madison, for a brush fire. Hartford-Neosho Rapids Fire was toned out for mutual aid shortly after the initial call.
Emporia and Americus firefighters were then called to 949 Road 212, just over six miles north of Emporia. In Emporia, fire crews were called to the 2600 block of Apple Drive for a report of a trampoline in a light pole.
Allen-Admire and Miller firefighters were called to a stretch of Road 400, the Lyon-Wabaunsee county line, for a reportedly significant grass fire shortly before 4:45 pm. Also in Wabaunsee County, Lake Wabaunsee was put under an evacuation order before 5 pm due to grass fire activity nearby.
Other reported fire scenes:
*Road 130 and J
*2800 block L
*Interstate 35 and Burlingame
*Roads 50 and Z
*1600 block V
Further details on all incidents are currently pending.
Be sure to stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for more updates as they become available.
