Grass fire burns 20 acres on CRP ground

    Fire departments from Imperial and Wauneta battled a grass fire together last week that burned 20 acres of CRP grass south of Enders.
    Imperial Fire Chief Doug Mitchell said the fire started along the west side of Highway 61, burning onto Chris Pursley ground.
    Mitchell believes a vehicle traveling south had a hot bearing or something else that went into the ditch because the fire started in two locations.
    With the grass two to three feet tall, the glow from the flames could be seen from a distance, he said.
    “Everyone did a great job knocking it down,” Mitchell said.
    If there had been more wind and it had burned more to the west, Mitchell said it would have spread into pasture and canyons.
    It was helpful, he added, that both departments were fighting the fire with a lot of trucks and personnel.
    While the fire was in Imperial’s district, the Wauneta Volunteer Fire Department was paged out first and was first on scene, Mitchell said.  
    The districts of the two departments border each other in that area.
    Wauneta brought six trucks and 12 firefighters to the scene, while Imperial enlisted seven trucks and 17 firefighters.  
    A deputy from the Chase County Sheriff’s Office was also on scene.