Area firefighters have battled numerous blazes since Thursday, March 5.
The most recent was on Sunday, March 8, when the Central Platte Fire Protection District responded to Riverview Park in Platte City. A compost pile caught on fire and due to the windy conditions, a brush fire started at 1:29 p.m.
That was one of five fires the CPFPD responded to during the past week. On Thursday, March 5, they joined the Camden Point Fire Protection District in battling a grass fire near the tractor-trailer weigh station, to the north of Platte City, around 3 p.m.
That same day, in Riverside, multiple agencies responded to a fire at the Horizons Business Park.
Martinrea, an automotive manufacturing company at 5233 NW 41st Street in Riverside, had a fire at 1 p.m. on Thursday afternoon.
Martinrea provides supplies to the General Motors plant in Kansas City, Kan.
Riverside Fire Chief Gordon Fowlston said the fire started with cardboard outside of the building catch on fire and with high winds present that day — there was a red flag warning from the National Weather Service — the fire quickly spread to two trailers that were parked nearby that held wooden pallets. The flames spread and caught grass on fire, as well as a building with a tractor inside.
Fowlston said the winds that were between 30 and 40 miles per hour made battling the blaze difficult.
Southern Platte Fire Protection District, Kansas City Fire Department and North Kansas City Fire Department all responded to the blaze with Riverside.
On Saturday, March 7, multiple agencies worked together to battle a blaze on Highway 152, which spanned from Interstate 29 east to N. Platte Purchase Road — nearly five miles.
Kansas City Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol closed down the westbound lanes from N. Platte Purchase to I-29 to help crews battle multiple fires.