Official outlines timeline of Reno County wildfires, ups loss to 12 homes, with two dozen properties damaged

March 22--By 8 p.m. the second day, officials recognized resources were stretching thin and they would need outside help to fight a growing wildfire that would eventually destroy a dozen homes in north-central Reno County.

The blaze that raced through north-central Reno County was just one of four that firefighters battled between March 3 and 5.

That included two separate and distinct fires that started March 5 near the Highlands area.

One was completely out, however, said Emergency Management Director Adam Weishaar, when the second was called in, leading officials to determine the second was suspicious.

Authorities called in state aid on that second day, then in place when evacuations were ordered.

Weishaar Tuesday outlined for the Reno County Commission a timeline of events and responses over the eight days of the wildfire:

Friday, March 3

Several Reno County fire units responded to a large brush fire at 30th Avenue and Woodberry Road, about eight miles west of Hutchinson. Crews extinguished that fire after several hours.

"That kicked off the weekend," Weishaar said.

Saturday, March 4

1:30 p.m.: Residents called in a large brush fire at 43rd Avenue and Jupiter Hills, south of Sand Hills State Park.

"They called in all local resources, but the fire kept growing," Weishaar said. "They knew it would be a multiple-day event, so they also started calling in resources from outside."

8 p.m.: Weishaar drafted a local Disaster Declaration and received verbal approval from each commissioner to authorize it.

"We knew we'd need to be tracking spending, so we requested an incident management team (IMT) from the state," Weishaar said. "They have an 18-person team trained in certain areas of responsibility to track spending and also fill in positions in emergency management."

The local response team, which set up at Prairie Hills Middle School, began formulating an incident action plan and communication plan, to allow outside resources coming in to be able to communicate.

Sunday, March 5

3 a.m.: The IMT arrived. Officials relocated the incident command to the Hutchinson Fire Departments Training and Command Center on East Fourth Avenue, and by 10 a.m., the state team was in place.

9:30 a.m.: Firefighters responded to a grass fire in the area of 82nd and Hendricks, just south of the Highlands. That fire was out in two hours.

"There were no embers or hot spots from that fire," Weishaar said. "It was out."

1 p.m.: Firefighters responded to a second fire, in the 1300 block of West 95th Avenue. While initially reported as a rekindle, officials later determined it was not.

"There is a feeling it was separately started, with how rapidly it grew and the placement of it," Weishaar said. "It was reportedly moving very quickly, expanding rapidly, with winds in excess of 40 mph. The ground was very dry."

Incident commanders pulled some firefighters off the Jupiter Hills fire and sent them to the Highlands to battle it.

2:10 p.m.: Officials decided to evacuate the Highlands subdivision, setting up a "reception center" at the Church of the Nazarene, 43rd Avenue and Monroe Street. About 200 people showed up, Weishaar said.

9 p.m.: Officials allowed Highland residents to return home and two groups of firefighters continued to monitor the fire through the night.

"At this point, the Jupiter Hills fire has consumed 1,200 acres and the Highlands fire about 2,700 acres in Reno and Rice County," Weishaar said. "We were able to apply for a fire management assistance grant for the Highlands fire, which was approved, because it was not contained and was still continuing."

Later, new IMT members began arriving and the Emergency Operations Center went into 24-hour operation mode.

"We had a couple of issues initially," Weishaar said. "We didn't have resources or anything set up for the next day; the incident management team was still working in the moment instead of looking ahead to the next operation. At that point no one had really reached out to all the other departments in Kansas. We had to step it up."

Monday, March 6

-- During a very early morning conference call involving Emergency Management, the IMT and Hutchinson Fire, officials made the decision to seek widespread assistance, including air support and reaching out to fire departments across the state.

Officials sent out a "teletype" about 4 a.m. to fire departments in all 105 counties for mutual aid response.

"It was in the early morning hours, but it was amazing," Weishaar said. "We had three people on phones working nonstop."

-- Two Black Hawk helicopters with 600-gallon Bambi buckets launched to assist, and officials received responses from 75 organizations agreeing to send 120 responders in 48 vehicles.

-- "Interim (Hutchinson) Fire Chief Doug Hanen and Kansas Forestry people began discussing 'worst case.' What happens if the wind picks up or goes in a direction we hadn't seen before?"

They began drawing up different evacuation maps, with an initial evacuation point at the USD 309 Administration Building.

"It was never meant to be a permanent facility, but gave them a quick evacuation route," Weishaar said.

6:20 p.m.: The Highlands fire, which fire officials had greatly contained, rekindled and rapidly expanded following a reversal in the wind.

"Those on the east side of the Highlands were told to move west, so if they had to leave they would be trapped in smoke or the path of the fire," Weishaar said.

8:30 p.m.: Officials called for an evacuation of a 25-square-mile area, from the north county line south to 30th Avenue, between Monroe Street and K-61.

9:15 p.m.: The county sent out an alert on its Civic Alert system. Twenty minutes later, a second alert went out citywide through the state's alert system used for Amber Alerts. That message, however, was somehow truncated, stating only "Evacuate now," cutting off the information on the evacuation perimeters. A third message was then sent out, directly residents to the Hutchpost website for those details.

The American Red Cross set up an emergency shelter in the Encampment Building at the Kansas State Fairgrounds. Rcat buses helped shuttle residents from the original evacuation shelter and from some points in the evacuation zone. An animal response team also set up shelter for animals at the fairgrounds.

"With how grave the situation was, and the lack of sleep for many, a decision was made to call in a Type 2 federal incident management team," Weishaar said. "We had a Type 3 Kansas team, which provided mutual aid, food and lodging. But Type 2 can be self-sustaining. These are professionals who go to wildfires in California and Colorado. They are really experienced. When they got here, things really smoothed out."

Tuesday, March 7

Four Black Hawk helicopters were now running operations in the county. The evacuation order remained in place.

"Part of the reason the evacuation area stayed closed was that if the Black Hawk pilots saw people in an area they would have to abort their mission and probably would not fly again."

During the day, 230 responders from 116 agencies were on the scene.

A regional Major Emergency Response Group, or MERGe team, began assessing damages. Officials learned a Hutchinson firefighter suffered minor injuries when he fell.

Eventually the team classified 12 homes as destroyed and 24 other properties were "significantly affected," but there was no loss of life. Officials initially reported 10 homes destroyed, but officials added two more as continuing assessments determined them totaled by insurance calculations.

Wednesday, March 8

Muriatic acid splattered a firefighter in the face, but he was not seriously injured.

Officials determined the fire was 85 percent contained and they reduced the evacuation zones and closed all emergency shelters.

Thursday, March 9

The Highlands fire was 95 percent contained, but fire crews were still actively working. The Black Hawks left for wildfires in western Kansas.

Friday, March 10

3 p.m.: Residents in the evacuation area were allowed in after showing ID.

6 p.m.: Road were reopened for all traffic.

The Jupiter Hills fire was determined out.

7 p.m.: The IMT turned operations over to the Hutchinson Fire Department.

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