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Electrical pole snaps, causes fire
Story by Andy Lyons/Muleskinner Managing Editor
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Firefighters from the Johnson County Fire Protection District responded to a large field fire at 7:36 p.m. Sunday in the 500 block of state Route DD in Knob Noster after an electrical pole snapped, sparking a grass fire that grew quickly due to windy conditions.
As firefighters worked to combat the blaze, deer could be seen silhouetted by the flames as they fled the area.
Fire Chief Larry Jennings confirmed that 45-50 acres of pasture, made up of fields and timber, were burned by the incident.
Johnson County was under a wind advisory from 7 p.m. Sunday to 4 a.m. Monday, and a spokesman from the National Weather Service confirmed wind was gusting up to 49 mph in Knob Noster Sunday night, which JCFPD Lt. Brent Hunt said was a contributing factor to the fire.
Although the fire was only a short distance from the Hickory Hills subdivision, no structures were affected by the flames, “it was all open ground and timber,” Hunt said.
Crews from West Central Electric were also on the scene, working to take down the damaged electrical pole. Steve Moore, director of member services for West Central Electric, said customers in the area would have experienced an outage from the time the line went down until crews were finished replacing the pole. Moore also said high winds snapped the pole high up where an attachment is placed to mount wires.
Trees are silhouetted by the glow of the quickly spreading fires Sunday night, January 26, 2014.
Firefighters just arriving on the scene head towards the fire to aid those that had already been battling the blaze.
Lt. Brent Hunt stands across the street from the fire and listens to status reports on his radio.
A firefighter battles the flames along the edge of the burn zone.
Dry grasses and trees go up in flames.
A lone firefighter cautiously puts out embers along the edge of the blaze.
Three firefighters work together to battle the fire.
