For the fourth time over the past five days, area firefighters spent their afternoon and early evening putting down grass fires.
Crews started around 1 pm outside Madison and didn’t end the bulk of their work until wrapping up a small fire at the Kansas Highway 99 bridge outside Soden’s Grove around 6:30 pm.
Leading off the week, Sunday was supposed to be the worst of the short-term fire danger, but Monday will be another day of no burning with the National Weather Service issuing red flag warnings areawide from 11 am to 7 pm. Emporia Fire Battalion Chief Eron Steinlage urges people to be mindful of the conditions this week.
The weather forecast actually calls for at least elevated fire danger into Wednesday. Chase County is not allowing outdoor burns through Tuesday. Osage County is in a burn ban until further notice. Morris County is telling residents to anticipate a burn ban perhaps until Wednesday evening. Wabaunsee County is in a burn ban until 7 pm Monday.
The fire that started outside Madison burned at least 800 acres before it was put out with the help of Coffey County firefighters. A cause has not been determined. Greenwood County Fire Chief Doug Williams tells KVOE News several structures were threatened but not damaged.
About an hour later, a grass fire started near the intersection of Roads 100 and T. Olpe Fire Chief Wade Schmidt says the fire started near a controlled burn site from Wednesday but the cause will officially be listed as undetermined. An estimated 180 acres were burned. Crews from Emporia, Hartford-Neosho Rapids, Olpe and Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge fought the fire.
Shortly after 4 pm, Emporia firefighters were dispatched to the 1300 block of Road 170 for a separate grass fire. Details are pending but the fire was small and was put out relatively quickly.
Emporia Fire put out a small brush fire that started near the Kansas Highway 99 bridge at Soden’s Grove shortly after 6 pm. Damage was limited to the brush near the bridge. A cause has not been determined. Highway 99 traffic was constricted to one lane for about 15 minutes.
Miller Fire, meanwhile, was called as mutual aid to a grass fire that started near Alta Vista as Harveyville Fire assisted on a fire near Dover.
Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for updates.
