By
NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. —
Reno County Commission Chair Daniel Friesen spoke to Hutch Post on Monday to thank those firefighters and other staff that worked so hard over the weekend and in the last few weeks to contain the Reno County wildfires.
"We just want to thank all of the emergency response personnel that have been involved in this effort," Friesen said. "Certainly, Adam Weishaar and his team at Emergency Management. He's got a small crew and it's amazing what he can bring to bear when there's an emergency situation. There was a laundry list of supportive personnel. Chief Beer and Chief Hanen with Hutch Fire. They are the best of the best, frankly in the nation. They have created a team that's been highly rated. We can't say thanks enough to the Hutchinson Fire Department. Sheriff Campbell and his men and women, risking their lives on the front line ahead of the fire, evacuating people. Certainly, the Reno County fire districts. There's just a long list of people and agencies. There's literally probably over 50 supportive agencies and its going to be hard to name everyone of them. Certainly, they have our thanks from the County Commission and all the people of Reno County and those impacted."
The County Commission has begun work to change policy on fire mitigation, but there's still more to be done.
"We've been very responsive," Friesen said. "We knew this was a very high danger coming in to spring. The unfortunate part is, we've set ourselves up over time for this. There's a range of challenges, from poor land management to just poor policy. There's no one entity or one person. It's a community wide challenge that we frankly have not done well enough yet. I think the fire chief has said the same thing, and I don't blame him for being sick of it. It's unfair for this community to keep sending firefighters and resources into extremely dangerous situations and then expect miracles to occur, which, they continue to happen for whatever reason. It's a miracle we have not lost a firefighter in all of this."
One civilian did die in the fire area this weekend.
"It's devastating that a person lost their life," Friesen said. "It's devastating that we lost almost 40 homes in this. It really is the definition of insanity to keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I would expect the county commission to continue to increase its efforts on this issue. I would expect some immediate changes here tomorrow related to some things that the fire department has requested and emergency management has requested."
The county is still putting together details to hire a county fire administrator. No word on exactly when that hire might take place.