UPDATE: McPherson landfill catches fire; authorities warn of toxic substances in smoke

Firefighters led by the McPherson Fire Department continued to work into the night to extinguish the fire at the landfill north of town. *Photo courtesy McPherson Fire Department Facebook page*

UPDATE: Fire suppression operations have halted at the McPherson landfill. The McPherson Fire Department posted the following on its Facebook page Monday morning from Fire Chief TJ Wyssmann.

“At 7:00 am air monitoring of the north end of the City of McPherson still shows air quality to be within normal ranges. We feel that fire ground operations into the morning hours has dramatically reduced the amount of smoke leaving the landfill fire. Strong winds however may still push the smoke into McPherson, so Air quality monitoring will continue throughout the morning to ensure public safety.”

McPHERSON — Early Sunday afternoon, the McPherson Fire Department announced on its Facebook page that the landfill north of town had caught on fire.

“With the north wind the smoke from this fire will be noticable (sic) in the city of McPherson and surrounding area. There are multiple agencies supporting the effort to put the fire out. Most likely will be a long operation with the strong wind,” the Facebook post noted.

Then, on Sunday evening, the McPherson Fire Department warned McPherson residents to go inside and make sure all windows and doors were closed, as the smoke from the fire included toxic substances.