A wildfire in Finney County that caused Gov. Laura Kelly to issue a verbal declaration of a State of Emergency on Monday burned approximately 700 acres and evacuated five homes.
The fire was deemed unintentional, and the cause was a bearing failure in a wheat header. The wheat header is the attachment on the front of a combine that cuts the wheat.
According to a news release by the Garden City Fire Department, around 2:18 p.m. on Monday, fire units were dispatched to a possible wheat field on fire at Jennie Barker Road and Quarterhorse Drive north of Garden City.
When they arrived, they found a large grass fire in a pasture rapidly growing and spreading toward the houses on Quarterhorse Drive. Crews then began fighting the fire, primarily focusing on saving the buildings that were in danger.