hay burned

[bigbull338]

well we lost about 6 or 8 bales of hay due to a fire.so joker either threw out a lite cig or pourposely set the hay on fire.bro called at 1130pm last nite said some hay is on fire.so call the fire department they come play with it till 2am.i go see how bad it is about am.a few bales smoldering but not flaming.go to church come home more hay on fire holy sh** gonna get all the hay to burning.call fire trucks again 1 comes spays a lil water then leaves.tractor down with a flat.so get it going.start moving burning bales.well hello catch the dang tractor almost on fire under the cab.meantime 6 fire trucks show up.they start wetting the burning hay down.so bro gets back on tractor starts flipping the burning bales over.they burst into flames.friend brings his tractor over an starts moving hay.we finally get all the hay stacked togather thats burning.an i stood an watched as it burned.knowing there was 190 bales sitting out in that field.goodthing the hay was stacked on the side of the field in rows because we wouldve lost it all.im angry beyond words as i type this.

 

[Jogeephus]

That's bad. You gotta watch a fire. Can't leave it. Its sneaky as a snake and will sleep till about noon then it will get going on you. Need to work on it while it sleeps.

Just a tip for fires in hay fields. If you ever get there early enough and you can't beat it out yourself you can sometimes put your foot on the brake and floor your truck. This will create a small fireline that will slow it down to the point that you can might can handle it until help arrives.

 

[bigbull338]

my brother was moving the burning bales an tipping them over.an they would explode on fire.he had fire under the tractor next to the fuel tanks.dont know how much the fire messed up the tractor tires.

 

[mtncows]

Unfortunately, I have some experiance with hay bale fires.The first was a series of fires set at bales I had left too close to the road in a secluded area.This was arson -sheriff's deputy and fire chief confirmed.The second was when a neighbor's baler had a bearing overheat and catch the baler on fire.His son was smart enough to unhitch quickly and get the new tractor away from it.Fire Dept. asked me to bring my loader to help and yes,bales blaze up when you lift them but I backed away from where they were and tore them apart when flame slowed down.I am not afraid of fire-I respect it and have had some experiance since I was aVol. when I lived in town.The way we put out bale fires is to tear them apart or unroll them and wet down.You will loose the hay but its already gone.Sprinkling down the flame just does little fire smoulders inside and rekindles.
I know you are mad or at least hurt that someone would do this on purpose or br so careless but do not do what feels right and take revenge.Talk to the Sheriff or State Police.If you are worried about this happening again,you might want to think about another area or at least installing a game camera to take photos of the people.
What some of these people don't get is that this is a felony! We used to have trouble with random brush fires around here until one guy got sent to the federal pen for several years.Sorry you are going through this.

 

[Devin]

Sorry about the bad luck. I know what you mean. We lost about 100 rolls to an arson fire a few years back. I'm pretty sure it was some city kids that had moved to the country and thought it would be a good Halloween prank. A few years before that we lost about fifty rolls due toan elctric fence getting knocked over by a deer and sparking a fire. I guess that was my fault, I should have put a regular fence around it. Those bales can burn forever.

 

[bandit80]

Good thing you didn't lose your whole supply.

My father-in-law is an attorney and was county prosecutor at one time. Needless to say he had a few enemies. On two seperate occasions, he had someone light his hay on fire. It was obviously intentional, as he made 5 or 6 different piles after the first fire. The second time, 4 of the piles were on fire. He took his tractor down to try and save some of the bales, ended up getting the tractor high centered on a burning bale and burned his tractor up pretty good. The fire department was able to save most of the tractor, but it had to be repainted and rewired. And smoldering hay will flame up a long time after at starts on fire.

I get insurance on my hay every year, from July 1 through March 31, automatically renewed. Believe it cost $9.71/$1000. Not a bad price, especially if you have to replace hay.

 

[bigbull338]

well we was lucky only lost 6 or 8 bales.an the hay is ok this morning.some1 is constantly checking the hay to make sure its ok.im just glad it wasnt stacked off the field or we wouldve lost all the hay.it burned as close as 20ft from my brothers house.we finally got 8 fire trucks out there an men that knew what they was doing.our local vol fire department wouldve let all the hay an meadow burn.as well as the pastures.we have insured the hay now.there for awhile i thought my brother was going to get the tractor burned up.we prolly would of had to sell most of the cows because we feed 80 to 120 bales a year.

 

[pdfangus]

We lost a bar a few years ago with square baled hay and everything else in the barn including the tractor.

I know your frustration.

Never did find out what caused it.

but it burned for days. Was so wet that I could not get equipment near it to tear apart pile and ended up doing it by hand and wetting as I did. took days to get it out.

 

[JRM]

It is almost impossible to put out a round bale of hay once it gets on fire. It seems most of time when hay is set on fire is when hay is in short supply and when it hurts the most to loose it.
Make sure sheriff knows about it, they will probably not catch who set it if it was set, but maybe they will patrol in your area more and scare away anyone from setting more.
Sorry for your loose.

 

[KenB]

Just a thought,
If the hay was set on fire wouldn't the outside of the bales be burning?
If the fire started from heat in the bale the fire would be near the center of it.

 

[bigbull338]

the hay was baled when it was nice an dry.an it had been baled for 2wks or so at the tiome of the fire.the only way it could burn was for some1 to start the fires.my brother said last nite that a guy had his hay barn burn up.but that the guy always baled his hay to green an stacked it right in the barn without letting it go through its heat stage.an boom his barn caught on fire as the hay went though the heat stage.they are sending some1 out that can look an tell where the fire or fires started.

 

[Jogeephus]

I hope I'm wrong but it sounds like you got a little pervert pyromaniac running around. We had one last year and he did some terrible damage. The fool should have been in prison years ago but we had one of the best judges money could buy and his parents had money. SSS if you catch him.

 

[bigbull338]

personally i figure it was a dang pyro .an i know if it was he is long gone from this area. an i hope he doest come back at all.

 

[Jogeephus]

personally i figure it was a dang pyro .an i know if it was he is long gone from this area. an i hope he doest come back at all.

That wouldn't fit a pyro's profile. Most will be local. Most will be at or near the fire. Most have some very serious mental problems. Most have very perverted habits as well. If you get a chance, try to find some info on them. Its an interesting read and is quite surprising cause its not really about fire but something else.

 

[nap]

This is yet another reason why I'm trying to go hayless. We've had about 20 or so good reasons posted so far on this board. I'm sure if we put our heads together we can come up with a least a dozen more.

 

[bigbull338]

i dont think theres ever a way to go completely hayless.because you can have droughts.thatll stop all the grass from growing.we only feed hay 90 to 120 days a year.

 

[Jogeephus]

i dont think theres ever a way to go completely hayless.because you can have droughts.thatll stop all the grass from growing.we only feed hay 90 to 120 days a year.

I don't think I could either unless I dropped my stocking down so much that it would be pointless to own cattle.

 

[hayrack]

the hay was baled when it was nice an dry.an it had been baled for 2wks or so at the tiome of the fire.the only way it could burn was for some1 to start the fires.my brother said last nite that a guy had his hay barn burn up.but that the guy always baled his hay to green an stacked it right in the barn without letting it go through its heat stage.an boom his barn caught on fire as the hay went though the heat stage.they are sending some1 out that can look an tell where the fire or fires started.

Two weeks is about the time that it will heat the most. I would run my hand in the rest and see if it was hot. Depending on the type hay you can think it is dry but after you bale it you find out different. Ryegrass is good at doing this.

 

[bigbull338]

im postive the hay didnt heat up an catch fire.our baler man lets it get dry down to 10% moisture before baling it.