Hay Fire Thought to be Deliberate

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Update: 8 September
SFRS have today published advice to farmers on fire prevention, especially in regard to the storage of hay. They state that in the last ten days they have attended ten incidents involving bales of straw on fire!
Some of the incidents involve large quantities of hay, with 450 bales of straw on fire at Crudginton (pictured), 300 tonnes of straw near Hodnet (below) and 250 bales of hay smouldering in Nescliffe.
The advice then goes on to quote the NFU Risk Management Programme which gives advice on the risk of spontaneous combustion in stored hay. For any non-farmers reading this hay which is too wet will go through a curing process (sometimes referred to as a sweat) in storage where heat is produced. It is a build up of this heat which causes baled hay to spontaneously catch fire. Depending on the type and size of bales, a safe moister content level should as low as 16% in certain circumstances and never above 20%. Commonly, over moist hay will set it self alight within two weeks of being stacked, but the danger has been observed to extend for two months.
The advice can be read in full here.


Original report:
Shropshire Fire and Rescue ServiceIn the early hours of yesterday (3 Sept. 2016) morning, Shropshire Fire & Rescue Service were called to a fire engulfing approximately 300 tonnes of baled hay in Hopton, Hodnet.
The incident report on their website states that fire was”believed to be deliberate”. It also asks anyone who might have information about the cause of the fire to please call the non-emergency number, 101.
At about 4:30am yesterday morning SFRS received a call alerting them to the fire. Five fire appliances, including a Heavy Pumping Unit, were mobilised. Hodnet fire crew were assisted by teams from Market Drayton, Prees, Wellington and Wem. Operations and Safety officers also attended the incident.
An improvised dam and farm borehole were used to supply water to two main jets. Besides bring the fire under control the crews also surrounded the bales with a fire break.
The original crews were stood down at approximately 8:30am after a relief team arrived to supervise the remains of the fire.
Update: Market Drayton Fire Station has added some pictures of the fire to its Facebook Page. Here a two of them.