Governor Laura Kelly has issued a verbal state of disaster declaration due to an extended period of dangerous fire weather over the next few days. This declaration makes available state resources to provide assistance.
The State Emergency Operations Center is being staffed starting Tuesday by the Kansas Division of Emergency Management along with personnel from the Office of the State Fire Marshal, Kansas Forest Service and other state agencies to coordinate efforts and pre-staging resources to support local counties and responders if requested.
A red flag warning is in effect from noon to 7 PM Tuesday for much of the Golden Belt, with a fire weather watch in effect for Reno and Rice counties. Southwest winds will gust to over 50 miles an hour at times, slightly lower for the Great Bend area and points east. This combined with relative humidity as low at 15 to 20 percent will create an extreme fire danger
Pawnee County has issued a burn advisory, which will be in effect until further notice. This means no open burning of any kind is allowed.
