HUTCHINSON, Kan. — There was a posting on the Sheriff Department’s Facebook page that the fire at the Highlands may be suspicious in nature.

We talked with Steve Lutz, who heads the Reno County Sheriff’s Detective Bureau, and he told us that they look at every incident as suspicious until they can prove otherwise, but added that they have no substantial leads to follow suggesting the fire was intentionally set. He says they will look at every possible cause, but, so far, they have nothing to go on. However, they are continuing the investigation and that can change.

Lutz says they are also looking at someone tossing a cigarette out along 82nd. Whether that was intentional remains to be seen.

Per the local disaster declaration, open burning is not allowed in the area.

We’ll continue to follow the investigation and let you know if something changes.

Officials also reminded residents that had a question about their insurance coverage or were having an issue with their insurance company to contact the Consumer Assistance Hotline is 1-800-432-2484 or you can visit www.ksinsurance.org.

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HUTCHINSON, Kan. — As of 3 p.m. Thursday, officials began allowing families displaced by the fires back into the evacuation zone north of Hutchinson. Only residents of that area will be allowed in.

According to Sheriff Randy Henderson, those individuals needed to check in at two locations, 82nd and Plum and 69th and Lorraine. From 3 to 6 p.m, they were required to have identification, however, if some left too quickly when the fires broke out where they didn’t take their ID, he says they would work through that.

He says the fires are now contained and, as of 6 p.m, all the check points have been eliminated and things north of Hutchinson will get back to normal.

Henderson says they met with the families who lost their homes, that occurred at 12:30 p.m. Thursday and then those who had damage at 1:15 p.m.

Sheriff Henderson says even though the check points have been eliminated, they’ll still have patrols in the area.

They did up the number of homes destroyed to 10 with 11 reports of other damage including out buildings, vehicles and farm implements. They say they are still contacting residents of damages to their property.

Residents can call 211 which is the information hotline to United Way. Also, you can make financial donations on 211 with 100% coming back to the local area.

If you have questions, you can also call the temporary Emergency Operations Center at 844-834-3659.