Here we go again: Conditions are ripe for wildfires

The B-section of High Plains Journal is focusing on wildfires this week. We are wary, indeed, of what could happen in the High Plains this spring. The pain and heartache of last year’s Starbuck Wildfire and the previous year’s Anderson Creek Wildfire are reminders of how quickly things can spiral out of control when the right combination of sparks, wind and fuel come together.

In the last week, two wildfires have scorched acreage in Oklahoma and Kansas.

Journal editors Jennifer M. Latzke and Kylene Scott have updates on wildfire management in this week’s issue; a few weeks ago, Amy Bickel wrote about Sen. Jerry Moran’s, R-KS, efforts to include wildfire relief in the Congressional budget bill that avoided a second government shutdown earlier this month. (That story can be found online at https://tinyurl.com/ycptrf83).

As Latzke reports, conditions are ripe for another season of wildfires. It’s unseasonably dry—Meade County, Kansas, rancher Otis Meredith told me it’s been six months since he’s received any moisture (although he did get a skiff of snow on Feb. 14). “Some parts of Kansas, especially the south central and southwest areas, saw above-normal moisture during the growing season, with many reports of large to significant fuel loads as a result,” added Chip Redmond, meteorologist with the K-State Mesonet at Kansas State University and an incident meteorologist. “Areas west of US-81 have seen considerable drying the previous months with many locations exceeding 90 days without a wetting rain. This, combined with persistent dry air masses, sunny skies and breezy winds, are rapidly depleting any remnant moisture.”

Thanks to an unusually wet summer in 2017, plenty of grass grew in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma renewing those scorched acres but also growing an abundance of fuel for wildfires this winter and spring. The wind gusts so common to the High Plains can quickly turn a small fire into a large one.

If there is any good news to come from past years, it’s the lessons learned in fighting those fires. Aerial suppression capability has improved, according to the Kansas Forest Service and Kansas Air National Guard. Also, rural firefighters continue to receive training on best management practices to fight wildfires. Still, rural fire agency resources are strapped from the last two years of wildfires. In some rural departments, equipment is antiquated and volunteers are in short supply.

Last year’s Starbuck Wildfire caused tens of millions of dollars in damages to cattle herds, fences and ranching facilities and is Kansas’ largest wildfire to date. The Anderson Creek wildfire in Barber County, Kansas, the year before previously held that dubious title.

As conditions are ripe for wildfires again in 2018, we hope and pray that the record doesn’t fall for a third consecutive year.

Join us from Anaheim

If you can’t attend the Commodity Classic in Anaheim, California this week, follow along on www.HPJ.com/commodityclassic, Facebook or Twitter for updates from Journal editors Jennifer M. Latzke, Doug Rich and me. We will bring you the latest news from the annual gathering of the national wheat, sorghum, corn and soybean associations, plus the popular Commodity Classic Trade Show.

Bill Spiegel can be reached at 785-587-7796 or [email protected].