Smoke from a large grass fire east of Cedar Vale blankets U.S. 166 Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Duane Snodgrass)
Updated: Monday, 1:26 p.m.
No structures were harmed following a pair of grass fires east and west of Cedar Vale Sunday afternoon, however a few hundred large hay bales were lost, according to the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office in Sedan Monday afternoon.
Several firefighter units from across Cowley County, including Winfield, Ark City, Dexter, Burden, Atlanta and Cambridge, assisted in fighting the flames Sunday.
The Ark City Fire Department requested aviation support from the Kansas Forest Service and an air tanker was deployed from Hutchinson.
Mark Neely, a state fire management officer with KFS, told KSOK-NewsCow Monday that the air tanker, a fixed-wing aircraft, dropped two 800-gallon loads of water onto the fires. The aircraft was filled with water via local fire departments at the Strother Field airport.
The fire east of Cedar Vale was initially estimated to be three miles wide.
The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office said Monday the larger fire covered an area roughly a quarter of a mile in width and was five miles long.
A photo of Air Tanker 95 in flight during a fire in Lane County from January. (Photo courtesy Kansas Forest Service)
The fires were first called to ACFD at approximately 2:30 p.m. Sunday and were under control by evening, according to the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office.
From Sunday:
Several firefighter units from across Cowley County are fighting two grass fires east and west of Cedar Vale, according to information from both Winfield and Ark City Fire Departments.
One of the grass fires is approximately three miles wide.
ACFD defined the bigger blaze as a “massive fire” and was first reported east of Cedar Vale, east of Road 6 and U.S. 166.
The fire department said the fire jumped the road and was headed south.
It was first called to the ACFD at approximately 2:30 p.m.
Close to 10 units have responded to the fires, including Winfield, Ark City, Dexter, Burden, Atlanta and Cambridge.
Much of the area in the vicinity of the fires is rural pasture and grassland.
More information will be added as soon as it becomes available.
