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Fire officials say there were multiple causes for wildfires that have beleaguered the county over the past couple of weeks, from discarded cigarettes to arson.
The main culprit appears to have been motorists discarding cigarettes out vehicle windows while driving down the road.
Hutchinson Fire Chief Steve Beer, however, also blamed embers from controlled burns kicked up by high winds and carried some distance away to spark new fires.
He asked the Hutchinson City Council on Tuesday for help negotiating with the county on imposing more burn bans when conditions dictate.
Half of recent fires caused by cigarettes
Hutchinson Fire Marshal Tony Arpin said two of four fires in the last week were determined to have been caused by cigarettes. Those included a fire that started along 43rd Avenue and burned 80- to 100-acres and another small fire on 56th Avenue.
The Hutchinson City Council spent more than an hour Tuesday hearing from the public and again discussing the pros and cons of a proposed project to modify the Woodie Seat Freeway inside Hutchinson.
In the end, there was no change from a vote two weeks to pursue federal funding for the estimated $11 million project that will require closing Avenue B where the highway now crosses overhead and installing two roundabouts on Avenue A.
This will be the third time in three years the city has applied for the funding. But City Manager Jeff Cantrell said he’d been advised “through back channels” that the city’s chances, which officials previously thought were pretty good, are even better this year for receiving it.
The Hutchinson City Council approved a permit on Tuesday for a special May 15 event in a corner of Carey Park to raise money for Hospice and Homecare of Reno County.
The event, called Trucks, Taps and Tunes, will run from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and feature more than a half-dozen food trucks, beer and live music.
The event will include a roped-off area with limited access south of the city’s Parks Department building where the stage will be set up and alcohol served.
Children’s inflatables will be on the north end, with the food trucks lined up on Carey Park Boulevard to the east.