7 March 2023
COWLEY COUNTY, Kan. (KSNW) – One or more arsonists are keeping busy in Cowley County.
Fire officials in Cowley County say they’ve seen more than a dozen intentional fires over the last couple of weeks.
Arkansas City Fire Marshal Chet Ranzau says there have been roughly 150 to 200 acres intentionally burnt over the last two weeks.
Fire officials are still trying to determine if the fires are connected.
Ranzau believes there are multiple arsonists in the county – which is unusual. He says they need people’s help to get to the bottom of it.
“Especially in the rural areas, watch out for any suspicious vehicles, vehicles that typically don’t belong in that area that they don’t ever notice before,” said Ranzau. “Find the description of them, which direction they were traveling, if they were occupied … if they can.”
Ranzau says among all the other issues these fires are causing, they’re using up resources – estimating about 6,000 gallons of water were used on Saturday alone.
He says that after the fires have been put out, there is still more work to do.
“Out of safety precaution because Sunday was supposed to be a bad fire weather, we did some back burns to try to prevent any further grass fires and put some homes in jeopardy,” said Ranzau.
Fire officials encourage the community to contact law enforcement if they have any information on the fires.