Greenwood County volunteer firefighters kept busy over the weekend, spending countless hours fighting more than a dozen grass fires.
One fire resulted with more than 5,000 acres being burnt and had almost all county fire units working together to extinguish the blaze.
Crews also assisted neighboring counties when able.
Governor Laura Kelly issued a disaster declaration last Friday due to the potential of wild fires. The southeast region of the state was in a fire weather watch throughout the weekend.
The Kansas Department of Health and Envi-ronment (KDHE) issued an Air Quality Health Advisory on Friday as many prescribed burns had been held last week. The burning led to elevated air pollutant levels throughout central and eastern Kansas. These conditions were expected to persist through Saturday. The Air Quality Index (AQI) likely ranged from Moderate to Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, and even Unhealthy near burn activity. Residents were able to view current air quality, AQI, and fire activity for their area on https://fire.airnow.gov/.
KDHE and its partners continued to implement the Flint Hills Smoke Management Plan to help mitigate air quality impacts resulting from burning. The plan included recommendations to minimize and disperse the smoke produced by burning.
For more information about burning in the Flint Hills and the Flint Hills Smoke Management Plan, residents were directed to visit www.ksfire. org.
Greenwood County volunteer firefighters, along with law enforcement, dispatch, EMS and Emergency Management, were commended for their efforts over the weekend, during the routine weekly meeting of the Greenwood County Commissioners (Courtesy photo)
