OTTUMWA, Iowa -- As he watched his round bales of hay burn and smolder, Roger Leffler of rural Ottumwa couldn't believe it.
"I had a stump on fire yesterday morning," he said and pointed to a small field down the hill from where the round bales were lined up.
"Then I came out here today and the wind picked up," Leffler added.
Neither Leffler nor the Wapello Rural Fire Department had an exact answer for how the numerous round bales caught on fire and continued to burn. The men speculated the breeze gave life to hot spots in some of the bales.
"Hay is short this year," Leffler said. "Most people could only get one cutting."
A bale of hay could be sold for $60-80. Multiply either number by 40 bales and you'll know why Leffler stood there and shook his head from time to time.
"It's the previous day's fire and it came back to life," Leffler said. "I was sure it was out and 20 hours later here I am watching the hay burn."
Leffler wasn't the only one having a problem with fire. Looking eastward from Leffler's property, he could see the smoke rising from a distant hill.
Rick Kleinman of Ottumwa Fire Department said he heard on his radio that Eldon Fire had been called out to a grass fire.
Later in afternoon, Dave Yeager of the Ottumwa Fire Department said his crew responded to the Leffler property as mutual aid to Wapello Rural Fire.
Yeager also noted that a burn ban went into effect at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
Copyright 2012 - Ottumwa Courier, Iowa
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
