Firefighters from two Lyon County departments spent time at a grass fire near Olpe on Sunday afternoon as the county’s grass fire season finally got underway.
Crews from Olpe and Emporia were dispatched to the 600 block of Road K-7, just northeast of Olpe City Lake, around 1:20 pm after a report of a controlled burn that went out of control. The fire was reported out when crews arrived, but firefighters had to return after the fire rekindled briefly.
The first fire burned about six acres, according to Emporia Fire Battalion Chief Rich Gould. The rekindle, which was attributed to a change in wind direction, affected two acres. No injuries were reported with either incident.
Lyon County residents took advantage of sunny, dry and mild conditions this weekend to unofficially launch the annual grass fire season, with nearly 20 controlled burns across the county Saturday and another 40 Sunday. Thanks to frequent weather systems bringing snow, ice and rain to the Flint Hills so far this calendar year, this is a much later start to the season than the past three years, where abnormally dry winters led to controlled burns starting in mid- to late January.
With the grass fire season now underway and the annual April burn restrictions looming as part of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Flint Hills Smoke Management Plan, KVOE will interview Lyon County Emergency Management Director Jarrod Fell and Emergency Communications Center Director Roxanne Van Gundy on Thursday’s 8:40 am Newsmaker 3 segment. KVOE will also interview Kansas Sierra Club Air Quality Committee Chair Craig Volland during the Newsmaker 2 segment at 8:40 am Tuesday. For the past several years, the Sierra Club has been critical of the smoke management plans in place for the Flint Hills.
