Rural farm home loses shed in fire

    While it was a calm morning last Thursday, high winds several days before were likely the cause of a fire that burned down an old shed at a rural Chase County home.
    Helen Schilke of Champion lost the shed north of her home along Road 736, southwest of Imperial.
    Initial reports indicated it was the house on fire, but the Imperial Volunteer Fire Department (IVFD) was alerted that it was the shed instead once a sheriff’s office deputy reached the scene.
    “Once we arrived, it was already collapsed and on the ground,” said Kelsey Weiss, IVFD 2nd asst. chief.
    Their efforts were then focused on protecting the home and property around the shed, he said.
    State Fire Marshal’s Office investigator Fred Reichert of Grant was called to the scene.
    Weiss said Reichert believes high winds earlier in the week weakened a power line near the shed, and toppled the pole over. That started nearby grass on fire, which burned into the shed.
    “We have no clue when the fire started,” Weiss said.
    However, Rhonda Smith, who lives a half mile east of Schilke and called in the fire, said her husband Lloyd went by the Schilke home about a half hour earlier and noticed nothing.
    Helen Schilke was home at the time, Weiss said, but was unaware of the fire until Rhonda Smith contacted her. Smith said she first noticed the fire as she was leaving her home for town between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m.
    “I looked left and saw it burning,” she said.

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