Chase County’s fire chief issued an urgent plea during Monday’s meeting of the board of commissioners. Steve Fillmore told the commission that landowners needed to start calling in their controlled burns or big changes to the county burn policy would be needed. “If we keep going the way we’re going, we’re going to have to change our burn policies,” Fillmore said, his frustration apparent. “Four of the five calls we’ve been on this year could have been prevented very easily.” He said there have been several calls where those burning were not adequately prepared in the event their burns got out of bounds. That included not calling in their burns so that dispatch and fire crews would have approximate locations and not having water available on site.
Source: Emporia Gazette
