photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

Traffic was affected by a grass fire on U.S. 59 south of Lawrence on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. The Douglas County Sheriff's Office shared this image from the scene on social media.

A large grass fire caused by a tow truck temporarily closed U.S. Highway 59 south of Lawrence on Wednesday afternoon, and traffic will still be affected for a while even though the highway isn’t completely closed anymore.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office spokesman George Diepenbrock said in an email that the highway from North 1000 Road to North 650 Road was closed as of around 3:10 p.m. Wednesday to let firefighters access the area, and that it had reopened to traffic as of 3:30 p.m. However, Diepenbrock said the highway would likely be reduced to one lane in each direction in some places as crews continue to fight the fire.

“Please travel carefully,” Diepenbrock wrote.

The fire started after a tow truck caught fire near the intersection of U.S. 59 and North 650 Road, Diepenbrock said. The truck fire was put out once, then reignited and caused the grass fire.