The Saline County Sheriff’s Office responds to a request for help from Reno County.

Sheriff Roger Soldan tells KSAL News that Lindsborg Chief of Police shared a text with him around 11pm Monday night.

“Reno County was looking for 40 volunteers from around Kansas to come down last night and help with security,” Soldan said.

By midnight, the Sheriff’ Office had sent down a full-time deputy, plus a reserve deputy and one member from the Mounted Patrol to lend a hand.

They were relieved this morning at 8am by three more deputies from Saline County.

Reno County officials say about 10,000 to 12,000 people had voluntarily evacuated their homes Monday night and over 60 people were in shelters on Tuesday as crews continue to fight fires that are being pushed by high winds.

The firefighting efforts are being coordinated from a command center set up at the Hutchinson Fire Training Facility.