WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today took the Senate floor to speak on the “historical and unprecedented wildfires” that struck southwest Kansas last week. Roberts toured the damaged areas this past weekend.
“We have unimaginable damage to land and property but also heart-wrenching scenes of cattle and wildlife burned, wounded and wandering,” said Roberts. “On Friday, I drove south from Dodge City through range and ranchland I didn’t recognize. What used to be gently rolling prairie dotted with herds of cattle and crisscrossed by fencing is now reduced to blackened dust.”
“Many Kansans lost everything. According to Sheriff John Ketron of Clark County, 31 houses and over 440,000 acres were burned there. My longtime friend John Swayze said, ‘Pat, it took me 43 years to build up this operation, and it took about an hour to take it all down.’”
Roberts also shared a “courageous and honest account” from Kylene Scott of Dodge City, who lost nearly everything.
“Rest assured, as Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I am committed to the Kansans I serve. I know Clark County and the other 20 Kansas counties will come back. We will ensure they get the help they need. Ad astra per aspera, to the stars through difficulty. It is not just a motto, it is who we are.”
The full text of Roberts’ remarks is below:
Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the historical and unprecedented wildfires that burned through Southwest Kansas last week. We had fires in 21 of our Kansas counties, roughly 1 fifth of our state.
High winds and dry conditions caused fires of the highest classification to blaze across central and western Kansas, burning more than 700,000 acres of land – making this the largest wildfire in Kansas history.
The Kansas Division of Emergency Management has said it could take weeks to determine the full extent of devastation from the fires.
Clark County, Kansas officials estimate a devastating loss of anywhere from 3,000-9,000 head of cattle.
Clark County was the hardest hit by the windblown fires with over 85 percent of land in the county consumed. This is hundreds of thousands of acres, in one county.
On Friday, I drove south from Dodge City through range and ranchland I didn’t recognize. What used to be gently rolling prairie dotted with herds of cattle and crisscrossed by fencing is now reduced to blackened dust.
Friends of mine lost their ranch when a 40-foot wall of fire roared out of the valley, over the bluff and burned out their operation.
We have unimaginable damage to land and property but also heart-wrenching scenes of cattle and wildlife burned, wounded and wandering.
Many Kansans lost everything. According to Sheriff John Ketron of Clark County, 31 houses and over 440,000 acres were burned there. My longtime friend John Swayze said, “Pat, it took me 43 years to build up this operation, and it took about an hour to take it all down.”
Riding with Sheriff Ketron, we were assessing the town of Ashland where a volunteer fire-fighting force managed to save the town when it became surrounded in flames.
Some volunteers were fighting fires elsewhere in the area and learned their own homes had become engulfed and lost.
I met with people in the towns of Englewood and Ashland, Kansas, in the heart of Clark County who had just come through frightening experiences fighting the unpredictable and unstoppable fires. Some were out driving cattle away from fires and had become separated from loved ones. When the flames turned they were left to pray for their safety.
Kylene Scott, with the High Plains Journal calls it “The worst day of her life.” Kylene wrote a courageous and honest account of the day. I will read her words now:
“I think I had them going the right way, and then the wind switched. Now I don’t know.”
When I heard the crack in my husband’s voice yesterday afternoon, I knew it was bad. He’s normally the calm, cool, collected one.
A family friend alerted him to the fire in Clark County very near the Scott farm after we’d returned home from burying my Dad yesterday. When they said the closet neighbor was being evacuated he went as quickly as he could fearing for the cattle herd he’d worked the last five years to build following the death of his own Dad. I stayed behind with the boys at our house 40 miles away.
When the wind switched at my house from south/southwest to the north, I began to worry even more and called him. At this point he was waiting out the fire and smoke in the wheat field, helplessly watching the house and barn burn. I wanted to be at the farm so bad, but there wasn’t much that could be done. When he made it home unscathed I was pretty happy, but sad at the same time. Knowing there was nothing we could do to fix what it took Mother Nature mere minutes to destroy.
Fifty-two cows are on the farm, with about half or 3/4 of them with young calves. Most are accounted for. All the grass is gone, as is the hay stockpile. He went and hauled water to the cows this morning and some are scorched and others have udders with burns. One cow is bawling for her missing calf. “Those poor mommas,” was my text reply to him this morning.
I made my way early this afternoon to see the farm or what’s left of it with my own eyes. As bad as I wanted to be down there, a piece of me dreaded the drive. The closer I got to the farm, the worse it got. Blowing dirt, darkening skies because of the dust and awful winds. I pulled in the drive, like I’d done a hundred times in the nearly 20 years I have been part of the family, and I had to stop my vehicle. The tears came and the heartbreak overwhelmed me.
I thought of the old white farm house with the wonderful front porch, where my husband spent a large majority of his childhood in and around. My fondest memory is when we’d stop and see my husband’s Grandma Pauline. She’d always have something sweet to eat and a cold drink at the kitchen table. The home had been around for 100 years and still had a large portion of the family momentos in it. It was reduced to ashes and rubble. All that’s standing is the chimney.
I couldn’t see the barn around the trees, but I again had to stop and sit when I pulled around the corner. The barn. The old barn with its red siding. I remember when my father-in-law had it painted and how proud he was because it looked so good. I remember when he laid the brick in front of the tack room and built a new door for it. My boys explored every inch of it when we worked calves last fall. You could “almost” hear the horses munching in the stalls decades ago when you stood in the center alley. Now it’s just a charred pile of tin.
I realize the house and barn are just buildings. Things can be replaced. But dang, its so hard to see it all reduced to ashes and rubble. To see part of the Scott family history, more than a hundred years, just be gone. Just like that. It’s hard.
We’ve had incredible friends and family offering help, hay and feed and it’s heartwarming to know how much people care. Like I heard an Ashland, Kansas resident on the news this morning being interviewed, it’s just what southwest Kansas people do. Help and survive.
Here is a picture that was taken on Kylene and Spencer Scott’s wedding day in 2009 and the same spot now.
Looking at this picture now, it is not hard to wonder how this land will come back to provide for so many as it has for generations of Kansas farm and ranch families whose sweat and blood have produced for Kansas, our nation, and yes the world as well.
And yet, having seen this devastation firsthand, I don’t wonder about Kansans and our ability to rebuild.
It is in our state motto. Ad astra per aspera – To the Stars Through Difficulty.
In one of the emergency management centers I met Joyce Edinger. When I asked her what I could do to help she said, “The Lord will provide.”
I think that sums it up. The faith of Kansans gives us the courage to rebuild. The courage to come through fire.
Ashland banker Kendall Kay emotionally said, “Senator, we are going to need help. We don’t want it, but we are going to need it.”
I am so proud of the people of my state who have come in with that help before they were even asked.
I have been in contact with all of our producer groups in Kansas — the Kansas Livestock Association — Kansas Farm Bureau, who, along with our state agencies, have been leading in the volunteer relief effort. I commend them for their efforts in collecting hay for cattle as well as monetary donations and volunteer coordination for repairs to property and fencing.
We have also been in touch with USDA in regards to assistance that should be available to farmers and ranchers in counties that have suffered loses. These programs include primarily the Emergency Conservation Program, the Livestock Indemnity Program, and EQUIP, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
Clean-up is underway. Kansas is a bootstrap state. It is not just about building new fencing. We have families who have lost the farmhouse and all of the equipment they need to rebuild. Many livestock producers have had the gruesome task of euthanizing cattle that have been badly burned. We have to remove the carcasses. We have to find land for the survivors to graze.
And we have a lot of uncertainty. How long will it take the grasses to come back? When can we get rain to avoid a dustbowl? It is all too soon to tell.
But, we have been through disasters before. Almost one year ago we had the Anderson Creek Fire and we have come through tornadoes and ice storms.
Recovery from disasters of this magnitude requires us to cut through the red tape. It requires getting the right information to producers so that they know how to apply for aid.
And yes, it requires us to look at our programs to see where we can improve them.
While this fire has not received much attention in the national media, I want to commend members of the press in Kansas. Photographer Bo Rader of the Wichita Eagle took this photo of my State Director Chad Tenpenny and I walking through rangeland outside of Ashland. The Wichita Eagle has gone out of their way to show the world what this fire looks like to real people.
The Hutchinson News, High Plains Journal and the Dodge City Globe have all told and are telling this story.
The same is true for the TV and Radio crews who have helped get the news of town evacuations and safety notices to our people. This is what they do.
Rest assured, as Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I am committed to the Kansans I serve. I know Clark County and the other 20 Kansas counties will come back. We will ensure they get the help they need. Ad astra per aspera, to the stars through difficulty. It is not just a motto, it is who we are.
— Office of U.S. Senator Pat Roberts
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