Emergency crews have been busy Thursday as a result of the extreme winds and critical fire danger that has been anticipated for much of the week.
According to Emporia Fire Captain Willie Ward, crews responded to multiple line-down calls between 1 and 3 pm, including two back-to-back in the 700 block of East South Avenue (reported at 1:09 pm) and 1820 Holiday Drive (reported at 1:10 pm). A third line down call would come in at 2:40 pm at 934 Oxford Drive, which resulted in a minor grass fire that scorched a roughly 40-foot area, according to Ward, but did not spread past that area.
Emporia and Americus crews were also called to a minor brush fire at 604 Road 200 at 2:30 pm. Crews managed to quickly contain the fire and limit any spread.
The high winds, which reached 69 mph at one point according to the Emporia Municipal Airport, also caused noticeable damage to the sign at O’Reilly Auto Parts at 2020 West Sixth Avenue. Winds punched a sizeable hole in the sign, leading to some scattered debris in the area, but no reports of injuries.
Additional reports of blowing debris and downed tree limbs were also common throughout the community, with winds also leading to various unsecured objects being blown around, namely garbage cans and a handful of power outages developing in and around Emporia. This included 150 Evergy customers being offline for a short time in Americus shortly after noon.
As of 5:30 pm, there are still a handful of minor outages being reported by Evergy affecting 29 or fewer customers.
If you have wind or damage reports, please message the KVOE Bluestem Farm and Ranch Supply text line or email KVOE@KVOE.com. KVOE will continue to provide updates on weather conditions as they develop.
1:09 pm Thursday: No outdoor burning allowed areawide Thursday with red flag warnings, other wind alerts announced
As mentioned this week, Thursday is not a day for anything fire-related.
High winds, low relative humidity levels and dry vegetation have all set the stage for critical fire danger. High wind warnings already affect Lyon, Chase, Morris and Wabaunsee counties until 6 pm, with winds steadily up to 40 mph and occasional gusts confirmed as high as 69 mph at the Emporia Municipal Airport. Wind advisories are also up for Coffey, Greenwood and Osage counties until 6 pm, with gusts in the 50-60 mph range expected. For points of reference, baseline severe thunderstorm activity is 58 mph and EF-0 tornado wind speeds are between 65-85 mph.
Red flag warnings come later, affecting all area counties from 10 am to 6 pm — meaning automatic burn bans for affected counties and, during the alert, superseding county-specific bans announced Tuesday for Chase County and Wednesday for Coffey and Osage counties. Besides the wind gusts, relative humidity levels will be 30 percent at best. Grasses, leaves and other vegetation have had nearly three weeks to cure after the KVOE studios got 0.60 inches of rainfall Nov. 30.
TV-13 meteorologist Doug Meyers says a low pressure system well to our northwest is dragging a powerful cold front across the state. He says it won’t take much for fires to develop quickly at any point in time Thursday.
Meyers says Thursday’s weather will likely be problematic for power outages, and over 150 Evergy customers in and around Allen lost power shortly before noon. The weather will also cause a lot of issues for highway travelers.
Kansas Forest Service meteorologist Chip Redmond says there could also be fire issues Friday, although wind speeds will be quite a bit lower.
KVOE and KVOE.com will have updates.
