Sterling Kansas Fire Department

06/01/2026

05/22/2026

On the county side, Sterling Fire Department personnel also crossman county equipment, just as personnel at other Rice County and city stations do.

We would like to give you an update on what your Rice County Fire District #1 Firefighters have been up to this past week:

On Thursday afternoon the 14th, the Kansas Sate Fire Marshal’s Office sent out a survey asking departments to submit an availability of equipment and personnel for possible wildfire deployments over the weekend.
Late morning of the 15th, the Fire Marshal’s office made phone contact asking specifically about possible tanker/tender deployment to the Meade/Clark Co. fires. With communications to the State Emergency Operations Center, we deployed our resource to Bucklin Ks., where a staging area had been established. RCFD #1 was then assigned to a Task Force providing water and additional resources to Clark County. On Sunday Morning, the 17th, 2 relief Firefighters were dispatched to replace the original crew coming off of their 48hr. This rotation of Firefighter was done a third time on the morning of Tuesday, the 19th. Late Wednesday Night, our crew entered their mandatory rest period before demobilization and were allowed to return safely to Rice County at 0900, Thursday morning.
All returning Firefighters were debriefed upon return to further our knowledge base of how things worked operationally and express personal experiences. Feedback was fantastic and eye-opening for those who experienced this for the first time.
We are honored to assist the departments and communities impacted by this major wildfire event. We are also humbled by those in need, giving everything they have left while losing so much, and doing so with words of thanks on their lips.
This deployment also provided valuable real-world fire line experience for several of our younger firefighters.
Most importantly, we are thankful to be home safely to our families, and we ask that you, the people that we serve, continue to keep those directly impacted by these wildfires in your thoughts and your prayers.
Respectfully,
Chief Ed Feil
Rice Co. Fire Dist. #1

05/22/2026

Over 200 firefighters from at least 52 counties and 7 states left their jobs, families, and traveled hundreds of miles to help protect the life and property of those in Clark, Meade, and Morton Counties. Join us in thanking these dedicated firefighters who represented these counties and states for all their hard work.

Firefighters from Anderson, Barber, Barton, Brown, Butler, Camanche, Cherokee, Clark, Coffey, Cowley, Crawford, Dickinson, Edwards, Ellis, Finney, Ford, Geary, Grant, Gray, Greenwood, Hamilton, Haskell, Hodgeman, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Kearny, Kiowa, Kingman, Labette, Lane, Lincoln, Lyon, Marion, Marshall, McPherson, Meade, Miami, Mitchell, Montgomery, Morton, Ness, Osage, Ottawa, Pawnee, Pratt, Reno, Rice, Riley, Rush, Saline, Scott, Sedgwick, Seward, Shawnee, Stanton, Stevens, Sumner, and Wyandotte.

Engine crews and additional support also came from Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, and Wyoming.

Many in Clark, Meade, and Morton Counties have a long road ahead of them. As this phase of the fire ends, please continue to keep these communities in your thoughts and support those rebuilding in its aftermath. The strength, resilience, and generosity shown over the past week are a powerful reminder that in times of crisis, neighbors helping neighbors make all the difference.

On his way home from the fire area, Southeast District Fire Management Officer Aaron Williams captured a striking rainbow stretching across the sky in Clark County. After days of smoke, exhaustion, and difficult fire conditions, the image felt like a fitting reminder of this past week. Storms eventually give way to clearer skies, and even in the hardest moments, there are signs of hope and resilience ahead.

05/21/2026

05/19/2026

This helps explain the process to help other fire departments that we do not have Mutual or Automatic aid agreements with locally.

I have been asked many times how state support for wildfires works in Kansas, so if you are interested I will do my best to explain how this works. (If you are in the TLDR crowd, the attached graphic provides a basic explanation. Apologies for the AI graphic, but I am not a talented graphic artist.)

1) Fire protection is Kansas is a local responsibility handled by cities, townships, Fire districts and counties. If a wildfire exhausts all local resources and neighboring departments mutual aid, the Fire Chief contacts their county emergency manager and requests state assistance with identifying and dispatching fire trucks for other areas of the state.

2) The county emergency manager communicates with the Kansas Division of Emergency Management (KDEM) duty officer, submitting a resource request for the types of fire trucks, firefighters, and equipment they need.

3 &4) KDEM activates “Emergency Support Function 4” and the state forest service and state fire marshal work together to fill the requests from the county. Forestry focuses on deploying firefighting aircraft operated by state contractors and out of state resources, if needed. The state fire marshal coordinates response of in-state fire department, soliciting departments to provide their fire trucks and firefighters for 48 or more hours.

Almost all resources are provided by local governments, with limited state assets- such as KDOT dump trucks serving as water supply tenders to shuttle water to fires in rural areas.

5 & 6) Fire departments respond to a poll indicating if they have fire trucks and firefighters to send and how long they are available. When resources are assigned, priority is given to departments who can provide crews for at least 48 hours. whenever possible, agencies are asked to talk with neighbors to form “ Task Forces“ or Strike Teams” made up of five fire trucks, firefighters and a team leader. This is a national practice that makes management of resources easier on the incident commander and increases firefighter safety. Ideally, under the Incidenet Management System, one leader should not supervise more than 5 resources. This is known as “span of control”.

7) Task Forces, Strike Teams, and some specialized single resources provide the name of the firefighters deploying, a list of the trucks responding, they are assigned a task force number and given a time and location to report to. This may be a state staging site near the disaster or in smaller incidents, teams may be sent directly to an incident commander. The staging manager ensures that incoming resources are fueled, full of water, have the proper radio channels selected, and will assign them to the area they are most needed at that time.

The state DOES NOT command any of these incidents- instead they are directed locally with state agencies supporting local incident commanders. State employees are not permitted to conduct command roles or make decisions for a local jurisdiction.

8) Once a team or resource is assigned to a local incident, that incident commander is generally responsible for logistically supporting them, providing fueling sites, food, etc. While teams are deployed on state tastings, KDEM arranges for hotels for the deployed firefighters whenever possible. Firefighters are required to get at least 8 hours rest per 24 hours deployed, unless there is an immediate danger to the public.

After the incident, fire departments are eligible for reimbursement from the state for their firefighters pay, use of their fire trucks, damage to their equipment, and other deployment expenses.

05/18/2026

Updated Weather for Monday.

05/17/2026