Butler County

Firefighters continue to monitor hot spots into the night after a large grass fire started near El Dorado.  "It takes almost nothing to start one of these fires," Butler County Emergency Management Director Jim Schmidt says.  "We've had fires started by lightening the other day--we've had chains dragging.  There's just no moisture. " Thirty trucks from ten departments responded. Four homes were threatened by the flames.  Firefighters evacuated the residents and were able to save their houses from the fire.

Fire crews put out three grass fires in Butler County Monday afternoon. The largest burned about ten acres and a burn near Douglass. No one was hurt. Crews stayed on the scene for several hours putting out hot spots. The fires come as Kansas and much of the country is dealing with record drought. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared more than half the counties natural disaster areas, including every county in Kansas.

An El Dorado man dies after his bicycle is hit by a car. The crash happened around 2:30 Thursday afternoon on U.S. 77 near Augusta. The Kansas Highway Patrol says 49-year-old Roger Joyce died at the scene. The driver of the car and a passenger, a child, were not hurt. Police say Joyce was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.    

A road construction worker involved in a cement truck rollover in Butler County has died. The accident occurred Friday afternoon at NW 120th & Hwy 77, near the town of Burns.  Butler County officials say the truck was heading northbound on Hwy 77, when it blew tire on the right rear axel. The cement truck rolled over and pinned the driver inside. The victim man was flown to Wesley Medical Center with critical injuries. He died a short time later.  

Three people, including one child, are hospitalized after a late-night crash in Butler County.  It happened around 10:15 Thursday evening on Highway 54. A sheriff's deputy tells us a vehicle was slowing down to turn onto Santa Fe Lake Road when it was rear-ended by another car. An adult and child in the first car were rushed to a Wichita hospital in critical condition.  The driver of the second car was taken to the hospital in serious condition....

Drivers traveling through Butler County this morning may have had to look twice. That is if they saw an object that almost looked out of this world. The Butler County Sheriff's Department escorted a military drone from the south end of the county through the east end. Sheriff Kelly Herzet and his deputies led the wide load along Highway 77 and Highway 400. He says the aircraft is traveling from California to Maryland. This isn't the first time a drone has made its way through Butler County, Herzet says one came through just last fall.

For almost four years... local, state, and federal authorities have worried nearly 200 pounds of stolen explosives could be in the wrong hands.  But last night, a pair of turkey hunters found all five cases of the missing dynamite that was stolen from a Butler county rock quarry. Since September 2008, authorities have been looking for 185-pounds of explosives. A type of dynamite contained in round, white tubes. They were stolen from Martin Marietta Aggregates near Augusta... igniting fear in many with their destructive potential.

A Butler County man and his teenage son were arrested, accused of growing marijuana. The Butler County Sheriff's Office says the father and son were arrested after a search warrant found drugs and paraphernalia in the home.     “It finally it got to a point where we served a search warrant,” says Sheriff Kelly Herzet. Once inside they found James L. Price and his 17-year-old son.  They also found what they describe as marijuana grow operation.

Butler County emergency officials have closed the 600 block of Haverhill Road in El Dorado due to a gas leak. The street will be closed from Towanda to Central until the leak is fixed. Currently, there are no evacuations. Drivers are being asked to avoid the area.

Emergency crews were called to the scenes of two crashes this morning, one in Sedgwick County - the other in Butler County. The first crash happened around 7:50 this morning at Satchel Creek Road and Highway 54 just east of El Dorado in Butler County. One person was transported with potentially critical injuries.  Several others suffered minor injuries. Photos from I-235 Crash Scene Crews were also called to the scene of a crash at I-235 just south of Central in Wichita.