Long road to recovery for Kansas ranchers after wildfires

PARADISE, Kan. (AP) — Ranchers in western Kansas have begun to recover from the deadly wildfires that torched their land earlier this month, but they acknowledge it will be a long process. Two men died and the Kansas Forest Service estimates that around 163,000 acres of land were burned on Dec. 15 in fast-spreading fires driven by wind gusts of up to 100 mph. Rich Koester, whose ranch ear the Russell County town of Paradise was among the many that were damaged, is typically busy caring for newborn calves or preparing his herd for winter this time of year. Instead, he’s burying livestock. He told KCUR-FM that the fire killed more than one-third of his 200-head herd.