Fire Destroys 242 Tons of Hay in Wisconsin

Aug. 18--More than 240 tons of hay caught fire Thursday night at a farm in the town of Barre.

Firefighters from West Salem and Bangor poured water on the blaze, which broke out about 10 p.m. in a concrete bunker silo on the Schomberg Rolling Acres farm on County Road M.

There were no structures at risk, so they ultimately decided to let the hay burn, said Greg Hutson, deputy chief of the West Salem Fire Department.

Paul Schomberg said there were 242 round bales, each weighing about 2,000 pounds, in the silo from second and third cuttings earlier this summer. Schomberg said the flames were visible from St. Joseph, about six miles away.

Hutson said the cause was likely spontaneous combustion, which can occur when hay is baled too wet. He said it's the second hay fire the West Salem Fire Department has responded to in a week.

"The hay as far as I knew was all good," Schomberg said. "Apparently, one bale must not have been good."

Schomberg, who said he was planning to sell the hay, estimates it will burn for days.

With all the effort that goes into cutting and drying hay and this summer's drought pushing prices as high as $500 a ton in parts of the country, that's a hard thing to watch.

"It just makes you sick," Schomberg said.

Copyright 2012 - La Crosse Tribune, Wis.