The approach to wildfire suppression in Kansas suffers from leadership fragmentation and the lack of financial resources and personnel to effectively coordinate response to massive blazes churning across the prairie, a legislative audit said Wednesday. The examination was ordered after Kansas suffered record wildfires in 2016 and 2017 that burned a total of 800,000 acres, caused $80 million in damage, destroyed 6,000 miles of fencing, and killed one person and about 5,000 cattle. Andy Brienzo, an auditor with the Kansas Legislature's auditing division, said the state's program to control wildfires generally fell short of centralized operations in Texas and three other states...
