Barton County Commission Chairman Shawn Hutchinson’s words were shared by many as he signed off on a verbal emergency declaration made by Barton County Emergency Risk Manager Amy Miller Tuesday afternoon.
“We offer our thoughts, prayers and support from this Commission,” Hutchinson said as the declaration became official. “I just love the way this community pulls together in a time of need,” echoed District 5 Commissioner Jennifer Schartz. “It’s not just our county, it’s all of our surrounding counties ... we’re there for each other.”
As firefighters collected to battle wildfires erupting in three neighboring counties Tuesday, Barton County was prepared to help. A Kansas Forest Service air tanker was being loaded to its 800-gallon capacity with water at the Great Bend Airport and the American Red Cross had a response trailer parked in the Barton County Road and Bridge’s lot in Great Bend.
As almost two dozen county firefighting departments banded together to fight Tuesday’s outbreaks, a host of others throughout the Golden Belt were offering their own help and support. Law enforcement agencies, governing bodies, local organizations and individual volunteers provided their own form of assistance, both in word and deed.
The effort was not lost on Hodgeman County Sheriff Jared Walker, as he summed up the response and containment of the fire south of Hanston.
“Now that I can give a small release on the fire, all I can say is, ‘Wow!’” Sheriff Walker noted Wednesday morning. “The amount of mutual aid from other fire agencies, farmers, the grocery store, our Health Department — and I’m sure I’m missing some — was so amazing.”
Sheriff Walker offered his thanks to all, from volunteers bringing out discs to form firebreaks, to bottled water brought by volunteers.
“We had everything we needed: water, Powerade, snacks, Chapstick, eye flush, baby wipes for our faces,” he said. He also recognized the local firefighters’ wives, who prepared a meal for first responders at the Presbyterian Church in Hanston after the fire was contained.
Pawnee County’s ordeal was not yet over; a contingent of firefighters caught a few hours of sleep on the gymnasium floor of the Larned Community Center before resuming efforts Wednesday to locate hot spots and potential flare-ups in wooded areas near the blaze site south and east of Garfield.
In addition to sleeping space, the firefighters were provided with food and water as well as support supplies from donations brought to the Pawnee County Courthouse first floor as a fire command center.
Pawnee County Commission Chairman Deborah Lewis expressed her thanks and praise for what she said was an outstanding relief effort.
“I can’t stress enough how blessed we are to live in a community that goes out of their way to step up,” she said.
Pawnee County Register of Deeds Joel Davis is coordinating donations at the Courthouse.
“We’ve had an overwhelming response,” he said. “Individuals, even restaurants are donating food; we are taking in supplies and we even have some ladies that are donating towels and providing laundry service for the firefighters.”
Davis said that within minutes of issuing a call for needed items, he had 35 volunteers with supplies waiting to be checked in. “It is truly overwhelming.”
United Way of Central Kansas Executive Director Charell Owings noted that in addition to city and county officials’ firefighting assistance efforts, the UWCK was assisting with meals for Wednesday and breakfast for Thursday morning.
“UWCK has a Disaster Relief fund available online to donate to for the costs associated with this situation. We are also collecting donated supply items (toiletries, water, etc) at our office (1125 Williams St., Great Bend) and we will get them to Pawnee County to be distributed between the Community Center and the Command Center,” she said.
