until midnight, when the temperatures cooled and the wind died down. On Tuesday morning, Johnson figured he had worked more than 24 hours, and probably wouldn't quit until the sun went down. His sweaty hands gripping a banana and a cup of coffee, he gave a tired shrug when asked to compare this fire to others in his 13-year career. 'Every fire's different,' he said. 'They all pose their own risks and challenges.' On the treeless, windswept Kansas prairie, the searing mix of sun and triple-digit heat is a recipe for agricultural disaster. Some residents have taken to praying for rain and cooler temperatures in this sparsely populated western part of the state. Menlo farmer Brian Baalman can testify to that. 'Everybody is just sick of it. They just wish we would get a good rain,' he said. 'It has become a point to pray for it at church on Sunday, for sure.' Torrid: Cattle in Kansas drink from a tank being filled with hauled water because the windmill and underground pump can't keep up with the volume needed because of triple-digit temperatures Temperatures in the area have hovered around 111 degrees or higher for the past four days, and nine cities in western Kansas broke records on Tuesday. Only in the earliest morning hours do hardy farmers dart out to ensure their livestock's water troughs are filled and their irrigation wells are quenching parched crops. They quickly return to cooler locales. Much of the fortunes in the Menlo area