ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Fire activity remained at low levels across the U.S. in January, although periodic modest increases in activity occurred in the South and Southwest.
That according to the National Interagency Fire Center’s National Significant Fire Potential Outlook released in early February.
The report likewise said January precipitation was below normal across most of the U.S., with well below normal precipitation observed in the northern Plains, Southwest Arizona, South Texas and most of Florida.
However, areas of above normal precipitation were seen in Southeast Arizona into far West Texas and in a line from Kansas to Northern Michigan.
Locally, Seward County Fire Chief Andrew Barkley said the county saw a total of 44 fires in 2025, with 15 of those being grass fires, 14 miscellaneous fires, two structure fires for illegally controlled burns and 13 vehicle fires.
State and local fire officials from across Kansas met in January to get a statewide wildfire outlook, and Barkley said estimates are saying the grass load for Southwest Kansas will be 15 to 30 percent above normal this year.
“The dead fuels are drying out within a one-hour period,” he said. “Currently, we’re drought free, but they’re looking at this season being active and busy. Fuel load’s significant. We’re looking at an above average fire season. Drought issues will remain into the summer. They’re predicting doom and gloom, and we’re seeing it.”
Crews from Barkley’s department assisted with last week’s “Flat Tire Fire” in Beaver County, Okla., and with another fire taking place in Liberal earlier this year at Santa Fe Liquor, he said 2026 also looks to be an above average year for fires.
“We’re talking significant fire conditions for February, March,” he said. “They’re looking at the pattern in the Pacific. If it holds until April, we’ll start seeing some moisture, rain, severe weather, thunderstorms, tornadoes. If it breaks down earlier, that could shift up. The way that works is that El Niño pattern affects our jet stream.”
Barkley said if this pattern holds, the bulk of the moisture will stay southeast of Seward County, but if the pattern breaks before April, that moisture could be seen in the county.
“It all depends where that pattern in the Pacific Ocean ends up,” he said. “It affects us here. Right now, what they’re saying is that’ll hold until April.”
Wildfire season typically kicks off in February and March, and Barkley said the above average estimates are further indicated from the fuel loading stock available in the area.
At this time, Barkley said the Seward County Fire Department has a staff of five, and this goes down even further with sickness and other variables in place.
“If the flu comes through, you lose a couple people to doctors appointments, vacations,” he said. “You’re not guaranteed to have five every day. It’s not like we have other staff to call. When you look at us compared to the City of Liberal, they’ve got six guys on duty a day and 18 of them to pull from. We’ve only got the five. We’re doing good. Trucks are up and running. Equipment’s good. Personnel’s good, and we’re moving forward.”
County commissioners recently voted to return the county’s mill levy to the Revenue Neutral Rate for Fiscal Year 2026 following a vote in September 2025 of 3-2 to raise the levy by more than 15 mills over the RNR. Barkley said the Rural Fire District’s mill levy too has been returned to RNR.
“In our 2026 proposed budget, we had firefighter number six, which we lost in 2025 to RNR,” he said. “We were trying to get that position back, and originally, they gave us the sixth position. Now, we’ve lost it again.”
With the Flat Tire Fire, Barkley said SCFD was called for assistance, and his department put in a full day helping put out the fire.
“I had one out sick,” he said. “I had one at a doctor’s appointment out of town and had taken the morning off to go do that. I had one working the investigation from a fire the night before. I had two, so we moved some things around to get them a truck and at least one guy to go down there and assist them. He was there through 5:30, 6 o’clock that night before they released him.”
As of Friday afternoon, Barkley said the fire was contained, but that morning, officials with the Oklahoma Forestry Service were still on scene putting out hot spots. He said moisture expected to move into the area over the weekend should help with conditions in Beaver County.
As for ways to help prevent fires like the Flat Tire Fire, Barkley said one of the primary methods is simply keeping an eye on the weather, as well as keeping areas closest to buildings on a property cleared as much as possible.
“Mow it down and keep it short, but with that, if the humidity’s down to 10 and the temperature’s up and it’s a little windy, it’s not a good time to be mowing,” he said. “Any mowing should be done in early morning hours when the humidity’s still up and the moisture’s still out there. If you’re mowing out in the grass and you hit a rock and it hits wrong, you’ve sparked a fire.”
Barkley emphasized maintaining space around homes and other buildings as a way to cut down on the risk of fire.
“Most of the wildfires that are wind driven, it’s a fight to keep up, so having that real short grass around their stuff gives us a fighting chance to steer it away from their home or their barns,” he said.
With high winds comes high fire danger, and Barkley said days with high fire danger are likely not good days to weld pipe fences or for doing repairs in areas with dry grass and even mowing.
“You should wait for better conditions,” he said.
Last year saw a significant amount of rain in Southwest Kansas, and this has led to overgrown grass. Barkley likewise said this has lifted drought-like conditions from the area and increased the likelihood for fires.
“The ground’s healthy with growing all that dry fine fuel,” he said. “We’re above normal for wildfires this year.”
Seward County last received a rating from the Insurance Services Organization in 2023, and the county currently sits at 55Y. Barkley said the first 5 is for the county’s protection class, and the second 5 is a rating from the City of Kismet, with the Y indicating the county.
The county is not due for another ISO rating until 2028, and Barkley said with the last rating, the county was able to change it by showing a better available of water sources and tools.
“ISO looks at structure fires, but in 2028, they’re adding a wildfire component,” he said. “We’ll be gauged on what we can do for wildfires as well. As information comes out for that, it’ll be one of those things to see how it affects us and what we’re going to have occurring when we’re rated again.”
Barkley emphasized 2026 will be an above average year for fire risk in Southwest Kansas.
“It’s going to be a burn year,” he said. “We ask everybody to be cautious and patient, watch the weather and make those adjustments to your day. We’re not Australia. In Australia, when they get into high fire danger days, they have to stop movement, and they stop all commercial activity. We’re not like that here.”
Barkley said by simply taking steps of moving equipment to concrete areas for needed work and saving welding work for a day with calmer winds, people can easily lower the risk of fires.
“That kind of stuff can wait until the conditions are better,” he said. “Everybody’s got to take a role in helping us prevent those bigger fires from happening.”
Tuesday was Pancake Day in Liberal, and while the day is notorious for cold weather, this year was warmer than normal, but wind gusts as much as 50 mph were seen in the area. Barkley said state fire leaders met Monday morning to plan how to handle the conditions, and days like Tuesday are exactly the conditions that greatly increase the risk of fire.
“There’s a lot there that plays into everything,” he said. “The state’s working harder at it. We’re in the state deployment system to help the state when needed based on what we can do here first and foremost for our taxpayers, but everybody’s geared up for a busy year.”
