The Arkansas City Fire-EMS Department and several other agencies battled a large grass fire on Sunday afternoon that caused the evacuation of the Cowley State Fishing Lake.
As a general reminder, Arkansas City and its surrounding area are under a burn ban until further notice due to current and expected weather conditions. Gov. Laura Kelly previously issued a state of disaster for all 105 Kansas counties, including Cowley County, through at least March 18.
The Dexter Fire Department initially responded about 4:20 p.m. Sunday to the area of 191st Road and 292nd Road, east of Arkansas City, for a report of a grass fire.
Due to the “red flag” conditions present, the Cowley County task force was deployed, consisting of the Arkansas City, Atlanta, Burden, Cambridge, Dexter, Udall and Winfield fire departments. Units from Belle Plaine, Elk County and Sumner County also eventually ended up on scene to assist the task force.
Assistance also was requested from the Kansas Forestry Service, which dispatched a tanker unit.
In total, about 30 ground units and one air unit were on scene for almost four hours battling the blaze, which burned approximately 2,000 acres. They remained on scene after to extinguish hot spots.
The Cowley County Sheriff’s Office and Kansas Highway Patrol closed U.S. 166 temporarily in the vicinity due to heavy smoke conditions crossing the highway. The Cowley State Fishing Lake also was evacuated as a safety precaution.
No cause of the fire has been determined yet and it remains under investigation.