Sept. 05--SUPERIOR, Iowa. -- A hay bale fire on Wednesday closed down a highway and took the combined efforts of seven fire departments to extinguish.
The Superior Fire Department was paged at 7:37 a.m. Wednesday to 2946 Iowa 9/U.S. 71, about 3 miles west of Superior. Upon arrival, the fire department requested assistance from the Spirit Lake and Terril, Iowa, fire departments, and later from Estherville, Lake Park and Milford, Iowa, and Jackson fire departments. Fire crews remained on scene until 2:30 p.m.
Iowa 9/U.S. 71 was closed between 290th Avenue and the Jackson "Y" due to the proximity of the bales to the highway; traffic was rerouted to gravel roads until 2:30 p.m.
Approximately 370 round bales owned by Dustin Lindsey and valued at $73,000 were destroyed by the fire.?It is believed the bales ignited through spontaneous combustion as they were put up about one month ago. The hay bales are expected to smolder for several more days.
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