With the wind being fierce, several fires in Johnson County got out of control, and fire fighters from a district were called out multiple times on Friday.
According to a post on the Johnson County Fire Protection District’s Facebook page, at 12:29 p.m., Stations 1 and 4 responded to a natural-cover fire north of Knob Noster. The fire was contained to two to four acres. Fire fighters cleared the scene at 2:34 p.m.
At 1:44 p.m., Stations 1 and 10 responded to a structure fire at 10 Southwest 11th Road. The fire was reported to be leaves under a porch of a mobile home and was extinguished.
At 1:53 p.m., Station 1 was dispatched to a natural-cover fire in the 100 and 200 block of Northwest 400th Road, northwest of Warrensburg. Eventually, Stations 1, 6, 10 and 11 were all on the scene, as well. There reportedly were multiple fire lines running over a large area. It took crews two hours to get the fire under control, with over 10 vehicles, including several brush trucks and UTVs. The fire reportedly burned approximately 100 acres. Crews cleared the scene just before 6 p.m.
At 2:17 p.m., Stations 2, 4 and 9 were dispatched to the report of a natural-cover fire in the 500 block of Southeast 1000th Road, northeast of Leeton. Crews arrived and located a large natural-cover fire and over 100 hay bales burning. Some farm equipment was lost, but crews were able to protect some structures. Windsor responded for mutual-aid to assist. Crews cleared the scene at 6:46 p.m.
At 6:45 p.m., Station 2 responded as mutual-aid for Windsor for another natural-cover fire on Southeast Highway 2 at the Johnson/Henry County line. The fire reportedly quickly spread into Johnson County, and Station 1 responded to assist, as well. When crews arrived, they located more than 30 acres burning. Crews cleared the scene at 8:06 p.m.
At the height of the afternoon, seven of the district’s 11 stations reportedly were actively fighting natural-cover fires.
The district is encouraging area residents to refrain from outside burning at this time.