Last year’s rains mean more grass to fuel spring wildfire danger in Kansas
Three years after a wildfire burned more than 450,000 acres in Kansas, officials are warning that an abundance of dry grass could raise the risk of fires across the state.
Last year’s heavy rainfall means more grass is quickly drying up as temperatures rise. Firefighters in some areas of Kansas have already fought large wildfires.
“Despite recent moisture, Kansas’s primary fuel — grass — is abundant due to last year’s above normal precipitation,” said Chip Redmond, Kansas State University assistant meteorologist, in a news release.
Last spring’s rainfall led to disaster-level flooding in much of Kansas. May 2019 was the second-wettest May on record in Wichita.
The Kansas Forest Service and K-State Research and Extension said in a Thursday news release that the timing of rain and dryness will determine how active the March and April burning season is.
Also on Thursday, the National Weather Service office in Wichita issued a red flag warning and the Kansas governor declared a state of disaster emergency due to the potential risk of wildfires.
The weather service discouraged against outdoor burning and warned that relatively low humidity, warm temperatures and strong winds made for an extreme grassland fire danger where, “any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly and become very difficult to control.” The increased fire danger runs through the weekend, forecasters said in an NWS hazardous weather outlook.
“In recent years, we have seen the devastation wildland fires can cause across the state,” Gov. Laura Kelly said in a statement. “They destroy crops and grazing land, and may threaten homes and lives. This declaration will allow the state to use whatever resources we have available to mitigate the risks and respond to fires, should they occur, in support of local emergency responders.”
The emergency declaration runs through Saturday. Kansas emergency personnel in Topeka will monitor for critical fire weather, primarily in central and eastern parts of the state. The Kansas National Guard will use UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, if needed, to help with aerial fire suppression support.
“When wildland fires have occurred in the past, we have seen tremendous cooperation from all state agencies to prevent or respond to them,” said Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli, the adjutant general and director of the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, in a statement. “Local responders work heroically to respond when wildland fires threaten their communities and the state stands ready to back them up, if needed.”
Firefighters and others who have conducted controlled burns over the winter have reported that fires have been more challenging and difficult to control than they expected, said Eric Ward, the assistant fire management officer for the Kansas Forest Service, in a news release. He advised fire departments to dispatch extra resources to wildfires and suggested landowners check weather conditions prior to burning.
The fire season warnings come three years after the Starbuck fire burned more than 450,000 acres in Kansas and nearly 200,000 acres in Oklahoma. It was the largest wildfire on record in Kansas.
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Last year’s rains mean more grass to fuel spring wildfire danger in Kansas."