HUTCHINSON, Kan. – As of 3 p.m. Thursday, officials began allowing families displaced by the fires back into the evacuation zone north of Hutchinson. Only residents of that area will be allowed in.
According to Sheriff Randy Henderson, those individuals needed to check in at two locations, 82nd and Plum and 69th and Lorraine. From 3 to 6 p.m, they were required to have identification, however, if some left too quickly when the fires broke out where they didn’t take their ID, he says they would work through that.
He says the fires are now contained and, as of 6 p.m, all the check points have been eliminated and things north of Hutchinson will get back to normal.
Henderson says they met with the families who lost their homes, that occurred at 12:30 p.m. Thursday and then those who had damage at 1:15 p.m.
Sheriff Henderson says even though the check points have been eliminated, they’ll still have patrols in the area.
They did up the number of homes destroyed to 10 with 11 reports of other damage including out buildings, vehicles and farm implements. They say they are still contacting residents of damages to their property.
Residents can call 211, information hotline to United Way. Also, you can make financial donations on 211 with 100 percent coming back to the local area.
If you have questions, you can also call the temporary Emergency Operations Center at 844-834-3659. This non-emergency phone number is being manned 24 hours until further notice.