Brownback on wildfires: ‘We’re not out of the woods’

An estimated 400,000 acres have burned in wildfires across Kansas so far, Gov. Sam Brownback said Tuesday, with fires in more than a half-dozen counties still burning.

While north winds helped limit the spread of a large fire in Reno County, flames rekindled in Clark County and prompted a second evacuation of Protection.

“We’re not out of the woods, by any means,” Brownback said. “We’ve got to stay on top of this.”

More than 2,000 firefighters are battling fires around the state, he said. There were fires in 21 different counties on Monday, with firefighters having to be withdrawn in northeast Kansas at one point because of a tornado.

Authorities were dealing with fire, floods, hail, tornadoes, straight-line winds and dust – all on Monday

“It was just a very, very difficult day across the state of Kansas,” Brownback said.

Fires continued to burn in nine different counties on Tuesday. Seven different federal fire management assistance grants have been approved since Saturday, said Angee Morgan, deputy director of the state division of emergency management.

“It’s unheard-of to get this many requests and approvals in one year, let alone in a 24-hour period,” Morgan said.

Virtually all of Kansas is under a red flag warning. Brownback urged residents to avoid roads near the fires, for their own safety.

“This is just too dynamic of a situation that we’re in now,” Brownback said.

An Oklahoma truck driver died after he was overcome by smoke in southern Kansas on Monday night. Another seven people have been injured in fire-related incidents, state officials said, though none of the injuries have been serious.

While there have been numerous evacuations around the state since the wildfires began on Saturday, most people have been able to return home – or to what’s left of their homes.

“The only area we are concerned about is Protection” in southwest Kansas in terms of ongoing evacuation, Morgan said.

A shelter remains open in Coldwater.

More than 60 percent of Clark County has burned so far, Morgan said.

Authorities aren’t sure how the wildfires began.

“It doesn’t take much when you have low humidity and high temperatures and wind gusts” as strong as they were on Monday, Morgan said.

Gusts of up to 68 mph were reported on Monday, she said.

This story was originally published March 7, 2017 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Brownback on wildfires: ‘We’re not out of the woods’."