Five departments fight Monday night grass fire

    Skies full of lightning are being blamed for a Monday night fire in northwest Chase County that required the help of five fire departments.
    Imperial Fire Chief Doug Mitchell said 22 fire trucks and other units were on the scene battling the grass fire that burned 90-100 acres, about three-quarters of a mile south of the Chase/Perkins line between Roads 324 and 322.
    The fire burned grass on  Salsman Farms ground.
    The call was initially paged to the Grant Volunteer Fire Department, Mitchell said, which, along with departments from Madrid and Venango, were first on the scene.
    The fire was in the Imperial Volunteer Fire District, and after IVFD was paged about 8:20 p.m., they arrived with the Lamar Volunteer Fire Department.
    “They did a great job knocking down the fire before we got there,” Mitchell said of the other departments.
    Strong winds made visibility difficult. Mitchell said they never did see flame due to the dust in the air.
    Fire departments worked together on the numerous hot spots flaring up in the burned acres.
    “The lightning was constant,” the fire chief said.
    Firefighters from Imperial were back in town at 11:15 p.m.
    Mitchell and IVFD 2nd Lt. Brad Dillan drove the perimeter of the burned area Tuesday morning to determine its size.
    In addition to Imperial’s eight trucks and 22 firefighters, Grant and Madrid each sent four trucks to the scene, while Madrid and Venango sent three units each.
    Mitchell said the area remains very dry, and urged residents to continue to be cautious.
    He emphasized there continues to be no burn permits issued in the IVFD district.