Kansas Burns Can Lead to Poor Nebraska Air
By Aaron Bonderson 
, Report for America Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media
March 7, 2022, 5 a.m. ·
Listen To This Story
The prescribed burning season in eastern Kansas and Oklahoma each spring can lead to health risks for Nebraskans. Southern winds can lead to hazardous air to breathe for southeast and south-central Nebraskans during the spring.
Prescribed burns are an effective method to preserve livestock grazing grassland in March and April in the Flint Hills region of east Kansas and northeast Oklahoma. Tracy Wharton, at the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, (NDEE) said the burns can also put some Nebraskans at risk.
“People with lung or heart disease, older adults, younger children, someone with diabetes, or pregnant women,” Wharton said, “and those folks will typically start experiencing more health effects earlier than someone who doesn’t have those conditions.”
Coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and possibly long-term lung issues are some of the effects for people with pre-existing conditions who are outside too long during poor air quality alerts.
Although the state is still working on an expansive alert system to warn Nebraskans about toxic air, people can visit airnow.gov to see air quality for any given area.
Nebraskans can also visit the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, for updates on air quality. Also, for more information on the burning season, visit this page on NDEE's site.