National Guard deploys helicopters to control Park City recycling plant fire

Lina Portman2 weeks ago

0 1 minute read

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – Ongoing efforts to maintain the fire at Park City's Evergreen recycling facility includes help from above. Video footage shared by Sedgwick County firefighters shows the Kansas Army Air National Guard using helicopters to drop water on the fire.

State-provided resources were mobilized after Sedgwick County declared a local state of emergency for the fire that broke out Sunday evening and quickly spread. National Guard assistance with helicopter airdrops involves extracting water from the KDOT pond at the junction of I-235 and I-135.

Air assistance has come to relieve the teams present on site since Sunday evening. The priority is to prevent homes and businesses from being threatened with the aim of containing the fire by the end of the day. The helicopters attracted some spectators.

“We heard the helicopter was coming to help put it out, so that's why we came to see if we could see them,” said John Hayes, among those who stopped to watch the fight efforts. the fire. “I’ve never seen them drop water like that except in the movies.”

Sedgwick County Fire Marshal Brad Crisp said the two helicopters would drop between 500 and 600 gallons of water every 10 minutes.

“Our teams held this northern fire line all night [Monday] night. Our hope is that we can put enough water on these hot spots to at least bring them to a slow burning state instead of an open burning state,” Crisp said.

He added that the wind remains a concern.

“We're really worried about the wind conditions, not only today but tomorrow (Wednesday), they're going to move out of the north and we want to protect the things you see behind me, it's just raw stuff,” Crisp said . . “We're really going to try to work on containment but also extinction and have it completely under control by the end of the day.”

Although it's unclear when the fire will be out, Crisp said he's “cautiously optimistic.”