High winds, dry conditions fuel wildfires across western Kansas

Update 5 a.m. Wednesday

Stevens County Emergency Services

Fire crews have managed to contain a large wildfire out of southwest Kansas.

Early reports from the National Weather Service office in Dodge City say the fire spread across southwest Stanton and northwest Morton counties.

Voluntary evacuations for the town of Richfield have been lifted. If anyone happened to get displaced, a shelter has been set up at the Elkhart City Hall.

Morton County Emergency Management says as of about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, the fire is contained and crews remain on scene to monitor conditions and clean-up.

Residents in Morton and Stanton counties are asked to turn off their sprinkles so that fire crews have access to water.

Eyewitness News is working to gather more information on the overall impact of the fire.

Reno County fire crews were also called out for at least three wildfires overnight.

Officials say all three are currently in clean-up mode. These are the following road closures:

Huntsville and Arlington Road
Lerado and Arlington Road
Langdon and Arlington Road
Langdon and Greenfield Road

The initial fire call was for a controlled burn that got out of control near Greenfield and Langdon. The fire was roughly one mile wide and two miles long. Early reports estimates about 640-acres burned.

Reno County Emergency Management is still trying to determine the scope of the other two fires.

No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported. Crews are asking people to be very cautious with burning, especially in such high wind conditions.

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Update 11:50 p.m. Tuesday:

We're learning more about the large wildfire that impacted an area spanning much of southwest Stanton and northwest Morton counties.

State emergency officials say this wildfire crossed into Kansas from Colorado and local firefighters were assisted by crews "from multiple Kansas and Colorado counties."

The firefight includes a request for assistance of Black Hawk helicopters from the Nebraska National Guard. The Black Hawks are expected to arrive by Wednesday afternoon, officials say.

Officials say about 90 homes in Stanton and Morton counties were evacuated Tuesday. This includes homes in the town of Richfield in Morton County.

"A shelter is established at Elkhart City Hall for residents displaced by the fire in Morton County.

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Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer Tuesday evening issued a verbal disaster declaration for several western Kansas counties battling wildfires.

“We want to do everything we can to help the local first responders get these fires under control as quickly as possible,” said Colyer. “This declaration will allow our state agencies to take whatever steps are necessary to assist when requested.”

The National Weather Service called for evacuations from properties in the path of a wildfire burning across southwest Stanton and northwest Morton counties.

With winds out of the northwest, the warning was for people living southeast of the fire. This included people living near the Morton County community of Richfield.

Farther north, US-40 is closed from Sharon Springs west to the Colorado state line due to a fire along the highway and low visibility.

Another heavily impacted area is near Weskan in Wallace County where crews have fought to contain the fire on its leading edge.

Wallace County Sheriff Larry Townsend says the fire spread to several structures and damaged or destroyed some expensive equipment, but, as of 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, had not spread to any homes.

He says the structural damage from the fire includes "a lot of hay lofts."
Several crews responded to assist in the fight including firefighters from Wichita, Greeley, Logan and Wallace counties.

Townsend says flames spread to one fire truck and three firefighters were treated at an area hospital for injuries.

He says it's believed the fire started with an irrigation motor. Townsend says it appears likely the 75-mph winds blew some crop residue into that motor, causing a flame.

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