Hutchison Area Fire

[Kung Wu]

I hope @RoyalShock: and family and any other Shockernetters are safe from the mandatory evacuations due to wild fires out in the Hutch area. I saw Buhler schools are closed.

Everyone is safe?

[wsushox1]

Satellite shows a burn scar in SW KS/NW OK of 650,000 acres. That's unreal.

Two SEATs are inbound today to help provide aerial suppression with any fires still ongoing. Not sure SEATs have ever been deployed to Kansas before. Crazy few years.

[DUShock]

The help is appreciated, however they need something bigger than a small air tractor. They need more firepower (pardon the pun):

[wsushox1]

The help is appreciated, however they need something bigger than a small air tractor. They need more firepower (pardon the pun):

A VLAT would be nice....at 40K a pop.

[RoyalShock]

Buhler is fine, so far, but much of the burned area is in the Buhler school district. The evacuation area only extended to two miles west of town, but with the westerly winds, if it spreads much further east we could be affected.

There continues to be flare ups (just an hour ago at 108th and Plum, about 5 miles north of Hutch) and it's not close to being contained. The county sheriff says "it's far from over". I've seen some Blackhawks and crop dusters dropping water over the area.

The yellow crop duster I saw from a distance about an hour ago, might be one of these SEATs:

[pinstripers]

Hutchinson is almost as hard to spell as Witchita

[RoyalShock]

A facebook friend posted this pic from near Medora (a few miles NNE of Hutch) this morning:

[RoyalShock]

[RoyalShock]

There are more photos from the Blackhawk perspective on the Kansas National Guard facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/KansasNationalGuard/posts/10158078128905467

[Kung Wu]

Whoa. Good job firemen?

[DUShock]

Firefighters, fire bombers, & the man upstairs.

[Kung Wu]

Firefighters, fire bombers, & the man upstairs.

Amazing.

[ShockBand]

I read online a comment by the owner that they had turned on the sprinklers to non-stop before they got out. It also saved their cows, who were hanging out by the house apparently.

[wsushox1]

So many cattle dead in western KS. Saw some pictures at Kansas.com that made me sick to my stomach.

[wsushox1]

In addition, the topsoil erosion that could occur over the next few weeks is going to be insane in western KS, unless rain occurs quickly. Even then, the fire looked like it burned so hot it completely sterilized the ground and re-seeding may need to occur.