By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Reno County Emergency Management Director Adam Weishaar noted that he hasn't been through a dust storm in his tenure with the county, so his big concern is tree branches and power lines with the wind that will be coming through between now and midday Thursday. Most of the planning his office is doing is related to the wildfire threat.
"We're putting out a text message to all our rural fire chiefs to see who is available for a task force deployment tomorrow," Weishaar said. "That could be an in county or out of county task force deployment, so we'll have a good idea of what volunteers are available and what resources are available in the county. Tomorrow morning, we have a meeting with the Hutchinson Fire Department and the Kansas Forest Service to kind of plan the day and talk about what could happen."
Weishaar is concerned that it's likely not a matter of if there will be a fire, but whether it will be here or elsewhere and so he's planning to have to send out some firefighters if there is a fire in an adjoining county and the task force asks for help.
"If someone out of county makes a resource request to them, we will provide a task force to them, which will be three brush trucks, a tinder and a command vehicle" Weishaar said. "We'll send them something, but there will still be more than enough here to maintain what we have."
There is a burn ban in effect in Reno County until noon Thursday.