Firefighters spent more than three and a half hours battling a fire in strong winds Sunday afternoon south of Salina.
Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan said this morning that the call for the fire near the intersection of East McReynolds Road and South Ohio Street came in at 1:49 p.m. Sunday. The call wasn't cleared until 5:30 p.m. Sunday, he said.
Soldan said firefighters from rural fire districts 1, 2, 5, and 6 responded to the blaze, which was buffeted by steady winds of 23-30 mph and gusts of 41-46 mph, according to readings from the Salina Regional Airport.
In the end, 10 acres of soy beans, some trees, a stop sign, and an Evergy power pole were destroyed, he said.
The blaze was believed to have started after someone had earlier burned a number of tree branches and then buried them with dirt, Soldan said. It is believed that the strong winds blew embers from the buried burnt brush pile, sparking the blaze, he said.