Comanche and Barber counties have declared states of emergency as a massive wildfire continues to burn in the grasslands of the Gypsum Hills in southwest Kansas.

Fire departments from across the state responded to calls for help throughout the day on Wednesday after the fire that began in Woods County, Oklahoma, overnight spread into southwest Kansas and continued to spread, fueled by strong south-southwest winds that blew steadily at 40 mph and gusted to 55 mph.

The origin of the fire was still not known by late Wednesday, although firefighters said it started near Camp Houston, about 10 miles west of Alva, Okla. sometime during the late night hours of March 22.

SMOKE PLUME: The smoke plume from a wildfire that spread from Woods County, Okla. into southern Kansas overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, reached Wichita in late afternoon on Wednesday.

Farmers Equity Coop with headquarters in Isabel and branches in Lake City, Medicine Lodge, Nashville, Sawyer and Zenda, is in the heart of the fire area. Manager Charlie Swayze said high winds were making the fire hard to contain. Winds were forecast to switch direction late in the afternoon to early evening as a cold front moved through the region, which firefighters hope will mean the fire will be pushed back toward territory already burned.

Swayze said cedar trees in the gullies of the Gyp Hills pastures in the region were contributing the fire spread they exploded along the fire line and embers were spread by the wind. He said that firefighters from across the state were responding to the call for extra help.

"We sent a gas truck out there with fuel to re-fuel the fire trucks," he said.

By 4 p.m., Marci Penner at the Kansas Sampler Foundation in Inman, reported that there was heavy smoke and firetrucks in the area and the smoke was making it hard to breathe and the National Weather Service radar maps showed the smoke plume extending from the Oklahoma border all the way into Saline County.

Under extreme fire danger conditions, additional smaller fires broke out in Reno and McPherson counties, contributing to heavy smoke plumes drifting over Wichita, McPherson, Lindsborg and other towns.

Even as southern Kansas dealt with the ongoing fire danger and the effort to control the wildfire, northwestern Kansas faced another crisis -- blizzard conditions that closed Interstate 70 and blanketed northwest Kansas with several inches of snow.

The storm is expected to move out of Kansas with rapidly warming temperatures on Thursday and Friday.