Crazy Farmgirl
Well-known member
Yesterday afternoon a neighboring township was called to a fire reported as "a few hay bales on fire behind a barn", initial responding dept did not feel the need to call back-up immediately. Upon arrival they found approx. 1500 round bales stacked in 10 rows, 3 wide by 3 high and about 200 ft long ea, spacing between the rows was barely enough for a UTV (maybe 6ft). Needless to say it was a "5 alarm" fire by the time the first water unit arrived, 3 more departments were dispatched, by the time we arrived it was a "surround and drown" nightmare! Initially the wind that was fanning the fire was at least favorable for saving the barn located less than 75 ft from the stacks, about 3 hours in a weather front came through and the wind changed to blowing the fire into the barn. 2 departments concentrated on protecting the barn while the rest of us fought choking smoke to keep the flames at bay. Due to the way the bales were stacked there was no good way to fight this fire! We got 2 bulldozers in to move the bales away from the structure but it was a long exhausting process. By 2am the dozers had moved the bales to the far side of the feild and the wind changed again reducing the threat to the barn, by 4am the bales were reduced to a large stinking pile of wet smoldering hay that we deemed was no threat to structures and were able to let burn.
These are some pics taken from my cell phone..not the greatest quality but you'll get the picture....
about 2 hrs in
Pushed into a pile....for percpective I am about 75yds away and light to the far right is a D8 dozer.
Moments before we left
The farm where this happened runs a dairy herd around 300 and a deacon herd of around 250. He lost every single round bale he had and states he has around 2000 squares in the barn we were able to save...absolutely devastating to see as a fellow farmer and knowing what an impact that leaves. He also stated he had no insurance to cover the hay. More than likely he will be out of business shortly...sad to see it end that way.
Physically made me ill to stand there doing everything within my power to help save the hay yet knowing it was a futile fight simply from a logistical standpoint, the arrangement of the stacks gave us no good way to access them and round bales by nature are NOT easy to extinguish. Also brings to mind the fact that this could be anyones farm, when stacking bales does anyone think of the "what if's" of these types of things?
These are some pics taken from my cell phone..not the greatest quality but you'll get the picture....
about 2 hrs in
Pushed into a pile....for percpective I am about 75yds away and light to the far right is a D8 dozer.
Moments before we left
The farm where this happened runs a dairy herd around 300 and a deacon herd of around 250. He lost every single round bale he had and states he has around 2000 squares in the barn we were able to save...absolutely devastating to see as a fellow farmer and knowing what an impact that leaves. He also stated he had no insurance to cover the hay. More than likely he will be out of business shortly...sad to see it end that way.
Physically made me ill to stand there doing everything within my power to help save the hay yet knowing it was a futile fight simply from a logistical standpoint, the arrangement of the stacks gave us no good way to access them and round bales by nature are NOT easy to extinguish. Also brings to mind the fact that this could be anyones farm, when stacking bales does anyone think of the "what if's" of these types of things?
