The Plains Fill with the Orange Flame: Wildfires Hit Southwest Kansas

By Jordan Stimpert
Staff writer
IG: @jordanstimpert

On the afternoon of Feb. 17, a fire ignited in Beaver County ,Oklahoma. With winds up to 70 mph, the fire spread overthe size three to four football fields every second.

Most of the fire’s growth happened in about eight hours. It spread more than 60 miles north, reaching over the Kansas border. The fire forced residents of Kansas towns Englewood and Ashland to evacuate their homes, all the way to Coldwater High School and to Pratt.

As the people evacuated their homes, the first responders stayed to try and hold the fire. The farmers and ranchers worked hard and fast to move their livestock and feed to safe grounds. Neighboring communities provided meals, a place to stay, land to keep their livestock on, and helping hands.

When the night came, winds shifted, pushing the fire more east than northeast, missing the towns of Englewood and Ashland, instead of going south of Protection.

The fire burned 300,000 acres of land. For a size reference that is about the size of Chicago. A final count has not been made on the loss of livestock, but according to Randle Spare The owner of the Ashland Veterinary Clinic, they had euthanized over 100 head of cattle on Wednesday, February 18.

This wasn’t the first time this area had been hit with a tragedy like this. Nine years ago, a wildfire called “The Starbuck Fire,” ignited in Beaver County as well. With winds of 70-80 mph the SW Kansas plains were engulfed in the orange flames of fire. That fire was much larger, covering almost all of Clark County. The fire created a massive loss for this community. With over 600,000 acres of fields and grasslands burnt to the ground with nothing left but the dirt and sand to blow. The loss of livestock was massive, with more than 10,000 head of cattle dead, as well as 2,000 miles of fence to be rebuilt.

This community of civilians, farmers, ranchers, and firefighters were no strangers to fire and what it doesn’t leave behind. They knew what they were up against and what they had to do to keep their families and livestock alive. Many people rushed to their animals either moving them further north or putting them out onto a wheat pasture.

Farmers hop into their tractors and plow around houses and pastures trying to prevent the fire from coming any closer. Township guys get the graders to grade the ditches creating a wider road that the fire would have to jump.

Hutchinson Community College Student views on the Fire.

Elleson Yost, a Willmore sophomore, comes from an agriculture background. Her brother and father are both invested in the agriculture field.

“My brother was out fighting fires from 3 p.m. on Tuesday until around 6 p.m. Wednesday night,” Yost said.

With the fires reaching just three miles south of her family ranch, her dad moved a group of cattle to Pratt, and then pinned the remaining cattle on a wheat field.

“It was heartbreaking to hear about all the farmers and ranchers losing their land and livestock to these fires,” Yost said. “It’s heartbreaking to watch generational land and hard work be destroyed by fire.”

Aiden Haskell, a Dodge City freshman at HCC from Dodge City. Haskell has worked for farmers and ranchers when back home and had concerts for those affected by the fires.

He visited the area of Clark County the weekend after the fire burned the southern part of the county. He was awed by the damage the fire had done. The crazy things a fire will do like, “burn around a stack of bales or around the generations old farm house,” Haskell said.

The red hills filled with sand and the air “smelled like BBQ,” Haskell said.

Living in southwest Kansas is not for the weak and takes a certain kind of someone to make a livelihood down there. But these farmers have been through it before.

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