School bus flat tire near Prescott leads to fire, 30 students evacuated

A Fort Scott USD 234 school bus caught fire on Thursday afternoon as it was returning from an 8th-grade field trip to Kansas City. It happened just before 3 p.m. on U.S. Highway 69 near Prescott. The Kansas Highway Patrol says the bus blew a tire on the rear driver’s side outside dual. Troopers say the driver tried to “limp” the bus to a safe stopping location, but a fire started where the tire blew and spread to the rest of the bus. Thirty students and three adults on the bus were able to get out safely, and no one was hurt. The students waited at a convenience store in Prescott until another bus arrived to take them home. In a social media post, USD 234 said the bus was pulled over when it started smoking, and the kids were evacuated. It says the bus then caught on fire. The bus is a total loss.
KSNW-TV NBC 3 Wichita

Hutchinson firefighters back from aiding in Colorado Pearl Fire

Three members of the Hutchinson Fire Department, who were deployed to Colorado to help with the Pearl Fire, are now home. They went as part of the National Geographic Area Coordination Center (GACC), which the department joined in 2019 and is made up of federal and state resources. Members of Hutch Fire have also helped in Oregon, Idaho, and several other deployments in California. “They got ready to go, drove up, they have a day of travel, they got there, got on the fire, they worked a couple [of] days doing some mop up,” said HFD Battalion Chief Justin Holzrichter. Holzrichter says deployments to fight wildfires in other states can last up to 21 days, depending on the severity.
KSNW-TV NBC 3 Wichita

Crews respond to dumpster fires in North Topeka

Crews responded to a pair of dumpster fires early Thursday in North Topeka. The first blaze was reported around 6:10 a.m. near N.E. Norris and Quincy streets. The location was just north of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and was immediately east of the Kansas Avenue Bridge. Around 6:25 a.m., additional responders were sent to the Topeka Rescue Mission at 600 N. Kansas Ave., where a person was reported possibly suffering from burns related to the dumpster fire. No serious injuries were being reported. A second dumpster fire was reported a short time later, around 6:28 a.m. Thursday, near N.W. Norris and Jackson streets, about two blocks west of the previously reported blaze. Additional details weren’t immediately available.
WIBW-TV CBS 13 Topeka

’Beyond the Call’ works to fill gaps and keep Wichita firefighters healthy

VIDEO: It requires a certain level of fitness to be a firefighter. “We’re not here just to look great. We’re here to actually be able to pick up really heavy people and do things quickly,” explained Brian Doffing, a Wichita Firefighter. The rewards of their career come with risks. “I’ve been injured several times in the fire department. I broke my neck, and I had to go through a long process to come back to work, and the services that I received were no fault of anybody, but were less than what was probably needed,” said WFD Lt. Dal Gains. His journey to recovery sparked the idea for “Beyond the Call.” Gains, along with Konner Knoll, Brian Doffing and Johnny Doffing, launched the nonprofit to fill that gap in services.
KSNW-TV NBC 3 Wichita