Ninety-eight percent of Kansas remains under red flag warnings. Gov. Sam Brownback says the conditions are ripe for fire.
After a good grassland growing season last year, there's been little rain since November...and then came the wind.
Two-thousand firefighters are working the fires across the state. On Tuesday, Blackhawk helicopters were dropping water to knock back flames in Reno County.
“We’ve had moisture down at 6 percent humidity in the Hutchinson area, which is drier than the desert,” Brownback says.
At one point on Monday, there were 21 counties with active fires. Gov. Brownback is still urging Kansans to refrain from outdoor burning and barbecues.
“With these wind conditions, you can carry an ember a long ways,” Brownback says.
Thus far about 400,000 acres have burned. There was one fatality in Clark County when the driver got out of a crashed vehicle and was overcome by smoke.