Fire torches stubble fields Saturday, near Hanover, Kansas

BEATRICE – Hanover, Kansas Rural Firefighters battled a corn stubble field fire near the Nebraska-Kansas state line starting at around seven Saturday night.
Hanover Rural Fire Chief Corey Riggs says the fire jumped Kansas Highway 148 to the east into another corn stubble field. Riggs says the fire torched an estimated 80-to-90 acres but did not burn any structures.

Riggs says firefighters were on the scene for about two-and-a-half hours.
"It was extremely windy, and that's what ended up causing the fire to spread.....with the high wind speeds and the direction, with everything being dry. It came from a brush pile that was lit earlier in the day."

No firefighters were injured in the blaze. The blaze was fought by resources from five different departments and about eight-thousand gallons of water was used to douse the flames. Riggs says there were thirteen fire vehicles involved in knocking down the blaze. The fire forced traffic to be diverted for a short time.

"The Washington County Sheriff's Office and the Kansas Highway Patrol assisted us in shutting down the highway...and that was just safety for firemen and the public."

Riggs says it took about two hours to get the fire under control but firefighters remained on the scene to control hotspots.
"The biggest problem we were having was the original brush pile starting it, and then during the fire two other brush piles were ignited. Once those get going it takes a lot of water to get those calmed down."

Hanover firefighters received help from a Washington, Kansas department and a Marshall County fire unit, along with Odell, Nebraska firefighters.