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Large Grassfire Burning in Kansas
Fire crews across Kansas and Oklahoma are still trying to put out a large grass fire in Barber County.The fire started at about noon yesterday about 15 miles southwest of Medicine Lodge. Crews managed to contain the fire as of Tuesday morning. Since then, dry conditions and winds have caused the fire to expand an estimated seven to 10 miles wide. The Kansas Forestry Service has been called in to help find more resources to fight the fire. So far, 30 units have been called out with more on the way. An additional three units from Oklahoma and three units from Wichita have been asked to help. Bill Robbins, Barber County Fire acting public information officer, said fire crews from as far away as Wellington and Garden City were called to help put out the blaze. Nearby Kansas counties and some Oklahoma counties also provided assistance. One fire truck was destroyed in the fire. In addition, Robbins said flames damaged two bridges. Livestock has been mostly saved, and there are no reports of injuries at this time. Robbins said firefighters are battling some tough conditions in the fight against this blaze. Much of the fire lays in some terrain that firefighters cannot enter. Instead, Robbins said crews have to wait for the blaze to come to them. In addition, they have to haul water 10 miles to the fire from Hartner and Medicine lodge. That's forcing crews to dig up grass and replace it with dirt to try to contain the blaze. Fire officials have still not determined a cause for the grass fire. Spectators are advised to stay away from the fire. Last I heard this fire has burned 15000 acres in two days. I wanted to post this as a significant number of the firefighters are volunteers who gave up a paycheck, hot meal, and soft bed to travel over 100 miles to assist. Not bragging or anything, just like to post a story every once in a while the type of people who are out there in the USA even if this is flyover country. I was at a seperate fire Monday when this got started and we figured we were about 15 miles away and the smoke plumes spread 10 degrees at the horizon before the light faded. I can't find a good topo map but here are pictures of the area and you can see that this is difficult terrain. Posted by: swksvolFF 2008-08-06 |
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