Reno County emergency management outlines disaster thresholds, new fire-district merger and volunteer response plans

Adam Boisar, Reno County’s emergency management director, told the Board of County Commissioners on Feb. 11 that the county has formal processes for disaster declarations, reimbursement thresholds and emergency operations that residents and volunteer responders should understand.

Boisar said a county disaster declaration qualifies local jurisdictions to request state and federal resources and can speed firefighting and other response efforts. "The county is responsible for approximately the first $290,000," he said, adding that the state must meet a $5,500,000 threshold to make the county eligible for presidential-declaration reimbursements and that qualifying events can yield up to 75% reimbursement of eligible costs.

He explained a related federal program, the fire management assistance grant, noting its lower thresholds and more immediate deployment: the individual threshold is $277,000 and the statewide threshold is "just over $830,000," which can allow counties to obtain aid for large wildfires without meeting the larger presidential-declaration criteria.

Boisar outlined the county’s emergency operations center activation levels — watch, partial activation and full activation — and said a full activation typically moves operations to the Command Fire Training Center and involves about 40 people. He noted the last full activation was for December wildfires north of Hutchinson.

The presentation covered internal resources. Boisar said the county’s community emergency response team (CERT) is an all-volunteer group of about 30 active members that helps with donated-supply management, food runs, sheltering and other boots-on-the-ground tasks. He also described the recent administrative merger of eight rural fire districts into "Reno County Fire District 1," effective Jan. 1, and said officials are still finalizing response plans and state-assigned nearest-dispatch numbers.

On funding, Boisar acknowledged friction after the merger: "Most of [the funding concerns] are just firefighters. They see a large district now. They see a larger amount of money than what they saw in the past because it was 8 different fire districts, and now those budgets are all combined together." He said requests for trucks and equipment are being prioritized to meet needs over discretionary wants.

Boisar also fielded operational questions from the commission about open-burning procedures. He said residents must call 911 to determine whether burning is allowed that day under the county’s wind-speed–based rule tied to National Weather Service forecasts, and gave an administrative contact: (620) 694-2793. He offered to mail paper copies of the burn regulations to residents who lack internet access.

Boisar closed by listing upcoming public training and outreach events: Feb. 23 storm-spotter training at the Hudson Fire Training Facility and a Feb. 28 open house at the Nickerson fire station. He said, given dry conditions, the county expects a busy fire season.

The commission asked follow-up questions during the meeting; no formal action was taken during the presentation.