Publication Date March 27, 2016 | Associated Press

Crews fighting Kansas wildfires get assist from snow, rain

United States
Fires that started March 22 has burned nearly 400,000 acres in southwest Kansas. Photo: Kiowa County Media Center
Fires that started March 22 has burned nearly 400,000 acres in southwest Kansas. Photo: Kiowa County Media Center

Firefighters grappling with the biggest wildfire in Kansas history got a welcomed Easter assist from pre-dawn snowfall over the hardest-hit area, though the looming prospect of flame-fanning winds threatened to undermine the effort.

The National Weather Service said about a half an inch of precipitation in the form of rain and snow fell early Sunday southwest of Wichita in Barber County, which accounts for 427 of the 620 square miles scorched during the blaze that began Tuesday in Oklahoma before spreading into Kansas