Local firefighters battle wildfires in Reno, Harvey counties

Smoke tries to hide the setting sun Saturday evening as seen from western Harvey County. Halstead Fire Chief Jim VanSchaick said the wind direction changed three times during the fires.

By Jared Janzen

HALSTEAD—Firefighters from across the area spent Saturday battling a massive grassfire between Hutchinson and Burrton, named the Cottonwood Complex Fire.

“It was the worst I’ve ever been at,” Halstead Fire Chief Jim VanSchaick said. “The wind changed three times. There was obviously loss of homes. I figured there would be more loss of life than there was, but there was only one that I know of.”

Reno County bore the brunt of the damage, with 12,000 acres burned, 35 homes, 92 outbuildings and 110 vehicles destroyed, several civilian injuries and one fatality.

In Harvey County, about 820 acres were burned from Northwest 1st and Northwest 36th between Wheat State Road and the county line. No injuries or structures were lost, according to a Harvey County press release.

Firefighters work on putting out hot spots on Saturday evening in western Harvey County near Burrton, north of U.S. Highway 50.

VanSchaick and his crew were assigned to the south division of the main fire. This section was between Willison Road and Woodberry Road, the county line and between Avenue G and 4th Avenue, a 10-mile section.

“We had four apparatus out there and we ended up with nine firefighters on Saturday,” he said.

Halstead was dispatched to the initial call at 12:38 p.m., Saturday, at 4th and Buhler Road.

“In our south division, we had four units from Burrton and then the four from Halstead,” VanSchaick said. “We were joined by Sedgwick County Task Force 1, Rice County Task Force 1, and I had three city of Hutchinson structural units assigned to my group.”

VanSchaick said Halstead stayed on scene Saturday until 10:30 p.m.

“It was the extreme of being really warm and then it got pretty cold,” he said.

Halstead EMS Director Anderson Lowe oversaw another three or four apparatus on the Harvey County front on Saturday.

“We had everything but one of our apparatus out of the station, including one of our ambulances,” VanSchaick said. He added that other agencies had helped backfill the Halstead station on Saturday.

Halstead sent two units over on Sunday for about half the day to help patrol for hot spots. They didn’t send anyone out Monday or Tuesday.

Dozens of agencies assisted at the Cottonwood Complex Fire, including every fire department in Harvey County and the Harvey County Sheriff’s Office, Emergency Management and Communications.

One unique thing about this fire, VanSchaick said, was that relief firefighters came from Cloud, Mitchell and Lincoln counties in north-central Kansas on Saturday night.

“That’s well over two hours away and longer than that on fire apparatus,” he said.

Firefighters from Burrton likewise spent Saturday battling these fires, Chief Jon Roberts said.

“Originally, we sent two [trucks] to Reno County right off the bat since that’s what they requested,” he said. “Then we got reports of an additional fire over not quite on our side of the county on Worthington. We went out and did the investigation on that one and found out it jumped Buhler Haven Road.”

Burrton firefighters stuck around Worthington and 17th with help from Buhler and Halstead.

Burrton had three trucks at this location and a couple of trucks elsewhere in Reno County.

“The wind changed direction on us several times, so that didn’t help much,” Roberts said.

Roberts said his crew was relieved by departments from Sedgwick County and Newton around 10 p.m.

People gather hay bales to keep them from catching fire. There are some burning in the background Saturday evening in western Harvey County near Burrton.

He noted that a lot of trees had fallen onto roads.

“One of my guys stayed out all night with a loader and pushed stuff off the roads so the power company could get through because they were out replacing poles at the same time,” Roberts said.

Burrton returned at 7 a.m., Sunday, to watch for hotspots until they got relief from a change in the weather.

“Around noon, the snow started, so we came into the station and went home,” he said.

Burrton didn’t send anyone out on Monday to check the scene, but they did on Tuesday.

“We searched the perimeter for anything next to the unburnt areas,” he said. “Most everything we had left over smoking was in the burnt area. It wasn’t even close to any unburnt.”

The Cottonwood Complex Fire on Saturday wasn’t the only one that kept firefighters busy over the weekend. Burrton also had five fire trucks battling a grassfire on Friday night that started at G and Woodberry in Reno County.

“That was the first one and then when we got going, they said there was an additional report of a fire at G and Worthington,” Roberts said. “We had two fires going and when we were fighting the first one, we had other resources come out from Reno County.”

Halstead and Hesston responded to that fire, as well. Roberts said it was about 2 a.m. before he got to bed that night.

Roberts said the snow and sleet helped diminish the fire danger for this week at least, but the risk remains.

“That’s all good for right at the moment, but any kind of wind with any kind of warm weather, it’s going to dry out again and that stuff’s not turning green, yet,” Roberts said. “The only time we’ll get out of fire danger is when that green starts reappearing and gets rid of the dead stuff.”

These are among the many fire departments that responded to the Cottonwood Complex Fire on Saturday in Reno and western Harvey counties. This scene was after a brush fire had gone through a farm area.

He reminded rural residents to mow at least a 200-foot radius around their homes and avoid having pampas grass, plum thickets or woodpiles near their houses.

“When the weather gets warmer, they may want to start sprinkling water in the grass, making sure it comes back and is wet so if something does touch off, it won’t ignite,” Roberts said. “If they burn trash, they may want to quit for a while and get a cart from Stutzman’s or one of the other trash services from Reno or Harvey county and do it that way for a month or two until things start greening up.”

VanSchaick agreed that the danger for grassfires remains.

“We still have to be very careful,” he said. “I plead with everyone to be very careful when they’re doing a burn or have an open burn going until we get it greened up.”

He added that Halstead has been responding to too many grassfires since November.

“It’s been a long fire season already and we’re not even really in the heart of it yet,” he said.

How to help:

For those interested in helping victims of the Cottonwood Complex Fires, there are several options. Donations may be made to United Way by calling 211 or visiting unitedwayofrenocounty.org.

The Burrton PTA is hosting a relief fundraiser for a school staff member and her family who lost everything in the fire. A pizza bingo night is set from 6-8 p.m. on Friday at the school. Several baskets and other items will be raffled off and free will monetary donations will be accepted that night or through the school office. If sending a check to the school, write “wildfire relief” in the memo line.

Evolution Car Show is hosting a fundraiser cruise at 3 p.m. on Saturday. All types of cars are welcome and should meet at Allen Samuels on Lorraine and 30th in Hutchinson, and the procession will cruise to The Barn in Burrton. Suggested donations are clothes, food, furniture and money.

A number of GoFundMe fundraisers have been set up to help families who lost their homes in the fire. These can be found by searching for “Hutchinson, Kansas” at gofundme.com.

Governor Laura Kelly toured the area on Monday. She directed executive branch agencies to assist Reno and Harvey County residents impacted by these wildfires by waiving fees to help replace important documents and begin rebuilding.

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