Fire pushed by high winds burns 500 acres near Hutchinson before being contained
High winds whipping across Kansas quickly spread grass fires in areas across the state Thursday and forced the evacuation of a Buhler elementary school and an area in Reno County.
Buhler USD 313 said on Facebook around 1:45 p.m. that Plum Creek Elementary was being evacuated because of a nearby grass fire.
“Parents will need to pick up their student at Crosspoint Church after 2:15 pm,” the district said. “Please do not go to Plum Creek as we are starting evacuation procedures at the building.”
The school is south of a fire north of Hutchinson that burned approximately 500 acres of grassland, leading officials to issue an evacuation for that area.
A fire was reported in a ditch on 82nd between Monroe and Plum around 12:50 p.m. and spread before being contained around 3 p.m., Hutchinson Fire Department Division Chief of Operations Jeremy Unruh said at a 4 p.m. news conference.
“Quite a few trees burning, hay bales (still) burning,” he said, adding fire crews would stay on through the night.
No homes were damaged, he said, and an assessment would be done Friday to see if and how many outbuildings and other structures were destroyed. The fire moved to the south of the starting location and about a half-mile east of Plum before mostly being put out, he said.
Unruh said they hoped to decrease the evacuation zone within a couple of hours.
Firefighters were also on the scene of a grass fire at 231st Street West and 13th Street North, which is about three miles northwest of Goddard. That fire was reported at 1:17 p.m. Fire crews were still on scene of the fire around 2:30 p.m., a Sedgwick County Emergency Communications supervisor said.
A large grass fire was also reported Thursday afternoon southeast of Russell.
The fires near Russell and in Reno County could be seen on satellite imagery, the National Weather Service in Wichita said around 1:15 p.m.
High winds have been increasing throughout the day. Wind gusts in the Wichita area have reached 61 mph between noon and 1 p.m.
Winds are expected to taper this evening.
Officials closed I-70 in both directions between Colby and Goodland Thursday morning because of “reduced visibility from blowing dust” before reopening around 2:45 p.m. Weather officials had said they expected Thursday’s weather to have similarities to a March 14 dust storm that caused a 71-vehicle collision on I-70, leading to one of the deadliest accidents in recent Kansas history.
This story was originally published December 18, 2025 at 3:20 PM.