An eastern Lyon County grass fire that could have been put out in under half an hour under normal circumstances took much longer to extinguish Saturday afternoon.
Hartford-Neosho Rapids firefighters and Lyon County deputies were toned out to 1622 Road W, about 1.5 miles north of Neosho Rapids, around 3:45 pm. Hartford-Neosho Rapids Fire Chief Greg Zumbrunn says about five acres of grass were on fire, but muddy conditions got every fire vehicle on site stuck at least once, so a tractor had to be brought to the site to help.
The fire didn’t grow despite the issues with keeping fire vehicles moving. All told, it took about two hours to get the fire out. One riding lawnmower was destroyed by the fire. No injuries were reported. Zumbrunn says the fire was originally a controlled burn that went out of control.
Initially, Lyon County District 4, Emporia’s rural fire district, was paged out but those fire crews were canceled before reaching the scene.
