UPDATE:
The large grass fire in Morris County covered a wide swath of property. Garry Berges, Geary County Rural Fire Chief was among firefighters battling the blaze. "It stretched from the south end to the north end about 13 miles, is what they're estimating."Berges estimated that the fire ran east to west for about two miles.
Much of the property that burned involved pasture land with tall native grass. "According to the incident commander down there 14 fire departments from around Morris County, Geary County, Dickinson County responded on that fire, said Berges." There were not any injuries.
Gusty winds and dry conditions led to a series of grass fires in the region on Tuesday. No injuries were reported. One abandoned stone house burned.
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According to authorities in Morris and Geary County the largest fire covered about a two mile stretch east of Herington between 2200 and 2300 Roads and resulted in the temporary closure of a one mile stretch of U.S. 56 Highway. Multiple fire departments including Geary, Morris and others responded to that fire.
In Geary County Rural Fire Chief Garry Berges reported five different fires. One burned about 80 acres near the Dickinson - Geary County line, another 4-6 acres near Old 77 Highway and one occurred approximately 7-8 miles north of Dwight. Another fire occurred on K-57, south of I-70 where a wood pile and grassland burned and there was also a blaze that burned a small shed on Old Highway 40 about two miles southwest of Junction City.
Berges noted that some of the fires rekindled from controlled burns in previous days while the cause of others was still unknown.