Wildfire threat very high Monday across southwest Kansas amid critical weather conditions
State officials deploy hundreds of firefighters as high winds and dry air threaten to rapidly spread new and existing blazes
TOPEKA, Kan. — A dangerous mix of strong winds, critically dry air and parched grasses has triggered an elevated fire weather warning across southwest Kansas today, threatening to rapidly spread ongoing wildfires. Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, has already issued a state of disaster emergency to support local crews battling blazes across at least five counties. The ongoing emergency response has deployed four Kansas Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopters and drawn more than 200 firefighters and 90 fire trucks from 75 departments across the state to help contain the destruction.
The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center warns that any new sparks will catch and spread erratically today due to sustained southwesterly winds of 25 to 30 mph and relative humidity levels plummeting to between 5% and 15%. Forecasters are urging residents to strictly avoid any outdoor burning, as these extreme conditions overlap with an abundance of dry vegetation and smoldering holdover fires from recent dry thunderstorms. Additional firefighting resources from neighboring states are currently arriving to help extinguish the current blazes before the worsening winds can push the flames further out of control.
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