Fire near Olathe; Brushfire draws helicopter, two fire departments

OLATHE — A brushfire about 2.5 miles south of downtown Olathe burned an estimated 20 to 30 acres Tuesday afternoon. Two fire departments and a crop dusting business cooperated to control the flames on a windy scene.

“Well, I’ve lost most of my gated pipe,” said Bob Lamm. “I’ve probably got quite a few thousand dollars worth of damage up there.”

Lamm, a wastewater treatment consultant, farms alfalfa on the 80-acre field for feed.

“I can’t irrigate it until I get the pipe replaced,” he said.

Lamm said a neighbor informed his family Monday night that they would be burning a section of their property the next day. Most of the area affected was south of Gunnison Road, about three quarters of a mile west of U.S. Highway 50.

The Olathe Fire Department, Montrose Fire Protection District and Olathe Spray Service coordinated efforts to control the blaze. MFPD Deputy Chief Tad Rowan said the district sent two trucks and eight firefighters to the scene.

“We first responded (to) it for them because their (Olathe’s) crews were tied up on another fire,” Rowan said. He said the call was received about 1:30 p.m. and that the district’s firefighters were on the scene for about three and a half hours.

“The problem in fighting that fire is we had gusting winds that would die down (and return), and numerous wind direction changes.”

Rowan said the operation was successful:

“The coordination that we were able to have — our fire, Olathe fire and Olathe spray service — were key factors.”

The Daily Press was unable to contact the OFD, as crews were still at the scene at press time.

Deven Felix, of Olathe Spray Service, took off in a helicopter equipped with a 96-gallon Bambi bucket at 2:45 p.m. He filled the bucket in a nearby pond several times, dropping its contents on the brushfire.

Felix said the conditions were ideal for his objective, as the spray service is in the vicinity of the affected area.

“With water being close like that and light fuel like that — it doesn’t get any better than that,” he said.

In 2007, the MFPD responded to 47 brushfire calls, an unusually low number, versus an estimated average of 75 to 80 per year.

Rowan said the number of incidents depends mostly upon the amount of moisture, and that the last week has been “very busy for us.”

“So to forecast what’ll happen just kind of depends on weather conditions and whether or not people are able to get prescribed burns in prior to it getting real dry and windy,” he said.

Contact Robert Allen via e-mail at roberta@montrosepress.com