Red flag warning issued as Kansas City area faces high fire danger

The National Weather Service is strongly discouraging any outdoor burning Thursday as gusty winds and low humidity values are creating conditions for dangerous fire weather.

The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for the KC metro from noon to 6 p.m. Thursday because weather conditions could allow any fire to spread rapidly.

The fire danger area runs mainly along and south of the Missouri River.

The Kansas City area is expected to reach the low 70s Thursday and have gusty southwest winds between 20 and 30 mph. Humidity values will be low as well.

In addition to discouraging outdoor burning, the Weather Service is asking people to avoid causing any accidental fires by securing trailer chains to keep them from dragging, avoid using any equipment that could spark and properly extinguishing cigarette butts and other smoking materials.

The abnormally warm weather is expected to stick around for a while, with temperatures in the upper 60s and lower 70s over the next five days.

Johnson County firefighters were kept busy last Friday battling a series of grass fires.

Those fires were reported along U.S. 69 from about 139th Street to 151st Street.

This story was originally published February 16, 2017 at 7:33 AM with the headline "Red flag warning issued as Kansas City area faces high fire danger."