Evacuations ordered as large Reno County fire moves into Harvey County

Evacuations are underway as strong winds push a large grass fire from Reno County into Harvey County.

There’s also a smaller fire burning northeast of Towanda, in Butler County.

Just before 3 p.m., Harvey County ordered an evacuation between Woodberry and Sand Hill roads from Highway 50 to NW 48th in the northwest part of the county.

“Anyone east of Sand Hill Road should be prepared to evacuate if the fire danger continues to spread eastward,” the county said.

A strong west wind has pushed the fire. Sustained winds have been between 25 to 30 mph with gusts in the 40s, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Darmofal.

He said the fire is a “fairly big fire” that first appeared on satellite imagery between 1 and 2 p.m. near Hutchinson. A cold front is moving into the area and winds are supposed to die down after sunset, he said. That will help with efforts to suppress the fire.

Facebook videos from the Hutchinson area showed a large plume of smoke.

Harvey County Facebook has been posting updates on the fire. Those can be seen at facebook.com/HarveyCountyKS.

This story was originally published March 5, 2022 at 4:10 PM.