As several area counties issue burn bans due to prime fire conditions, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has taken action to pre-position emergency resources in places of potential need.
The governor issued a verbal state of disaster emergency Wednesday morning, highlighting the critical fire danger in western Kansas but also saying the designation is statewide. Kelly also says fire danger will be a concern Friday and Saturday as relatively warm temperatures combine with gusty winds and low humidity levels to keep grass dry and the fire danger high.
Kelly asks residents to “use extreme caution and avoid burning” until conditions improve.
Following announcements from Chase and Coffey counties Wednesday morning. Osage County entered a county-specific burn ban Wednesday afternoon. Osage County plans to re-evaluate conditions Thursday, while Chase County will revisit its ban Saturday and Coffey County’s ban is underway until further notice.
8:15 am Wednesday: Burn bans announced for Chase, Coffey counties
Very high fire danger now has at least two area counties officially halting fire activity.
Chase County and Coffey County have issued burn bans in light of blustery and dry conditions. Relative humidity levels at or below 30 percent are combining with drying grasses and northerly wind gusts as high as 40 mph to elevate the fire danger.
Chase County will reevaluate its situation Saturday. Coffey County’s ban is active until further notice.
Other area counties have not announced any burn alerts despite the conditions, which may return to the area Friday. Lyon County does not issue any burn alerts, instead relying on the National Weather Service’s red flag warnings highlighting critical fire danger and triggering automatic burn bans for affected counties in the KVOE listening area. The Weather Service says humidity levels will likely be too high for a red flag warning Wednesday.
KVOE and KVOE.com will have updates.
