Two controlled burns of buildings at the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant south of De Soto on Wednesday created a smoke plume that could be seen for miles in either direction on Kansas Highway 10.

Kise Randall, executive director of Sunflower Redevelopment Inc., said the burns were part of environmental remediation the developers are carrying out at the site.

The two buildings were in the northwest corner of the 9,016-acre plant and are on the 300 acres to be transferred to Kansas University.

“We’re set up for a burn when weather allowed, and that happened today,” she said about noon from the plant. “It should taper off in an hour and a half.”

The structures burned Wednesday were used for the production of rocket propellant manufactured at the plant. During the production process, nitroglycerin seeped into the wood of the structures, making it dangerous to raze them in conventional ways.