NWS issues Red Flag Warning for Kansas City during massive drought

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning across the metro, meaning conditions are ripe for fires to spread more quickly and exponentially than usual.

"When you get a fire like this it starts in a grassy or wooded area and then it gets up into neighborhoods now you're putting people's homes at risk and people's homes are their livelihoods," Butch Diekemper, the Assistant Chief of Fire Prevention in the City of Lenexa, said.

The warning will expire in just a few hours, but that doesn't mean you're out of the clear; the relief needed is rain. So far in October, Kansas City hasn't seen a drop.

In a video shot by FOX4 just last week, a large brush fire could be seen downtown. The fire appeared to be out of control until first responders arrived.

In October of 2022, when we were under a similar warning, one brush fire led to I-470 being shut down and homes evacuated.

"For fire weather, there is typically three ingredients that we look at," FOX4 Meteorologist Jacob Lanier said.

"Dry air, dry ground and then strong wind gusts."

Diekemper said that the Lenexa department is taking steps to ensure they're ready when the call comes.

"It just makes us aware we have to have our apparatus trucks like this one here ready to go at a moment's notice so when that grass fire we can get out there and hopefully stop it before the winds take it into residential neighborhoods," he explained.

This is an issue mainly because of the severe drought that Kansas City is currently experiencing. With no rain in October so far, Lanier says there's only one more chance for that to happen in about a week.

If it doesn't happen, it would mark the first rain-free month in the history of Kansas City.

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Fire departments stress that this means holding off on those bonfires and if you're cooking at home on the grill, make sure you dispose of things properly and get rid of all embers.

"It's going to put us on a higher alert to make sure we're more prepared, even more prepared than what we typically are," Diekemper said.