Farm producers and ranchers were conducting controlled burns of grasslands in Geary County on Tuesday. According to the Rural Fire Officer by late afternoon there had been 48 controlled burns in the county. Only one got out of control and burned some grassland, but no injuries were reported. That was in the area off Davis Creek between Carr Road.
Rural Fire Chief Garry Berges stated"With the calm type winds today a lot of ranchers and farmers and rural people are out getting their burning done. Some of them have a deadline to meet by the middle of April so they're out doing their burning."
A lot of brush piles are also being burned, said Berges. "Because starting tomorrow during the month of April under state statute brush piles cannot be burned in the Flint Hills."
You will be to smell and see smoke today ( Tuesday ). Berges expects it to get worse tonight when the temperature begins to drop and the humidity goes up. Berges noted that it is necessary for the farm producers to be burn but you need to be careful driving through smoke.
If you have respiratory issues remain in your home. "Turn your air conditioning off, close the windows if you need to and just be careful if you have respiratory issues."