Fire!!

I had a new one. Was moving a New Holland balewagon that was loaded from one farm to the another to put in a shed. As I was rounding a corner I heard crackle crackle. I looked back and the load was on fire! I hurried up and got it into a worked field and dumped the load. Fortunately it only scorched the paint and burnt up the plywood sides. And of course burnt all the hay, 64 bales. It was a few hours ago and I'm still coming off an adrenalin rush.

I have now idea what started it. Maybe an exhaust spark. I had just loaded it.

I don't have a pic of it but here is one of a 1010.

Scary ain't it? I had a New Idea UniHarvester catch fire on me one night. The fire was in the engine compartment below and behind the cab. I saw a glow off to the side on the ground before I noticed anything else. I jumped out,ran into an electric fence,fell flat on my face in a ditch,had quite a time running to the house to call the fire department.

Was chopping bedding one year with a friend hauling it about 1/2 mile. He looked back to find smoke coming out of the wagon. He ran it right to the manure pit and unloaded it there. No damage to the wagon.

Yes it was scary. Where do I go with it? What else will burn? How do I put it out?

I fortunately didn't have to call the FD. While I was on the road all I could think of is, where do I go with it?
I could pull in the yard and use a hose in it. No there are too many buildings and the wind is in the wrong direction. I remembered the worked field and went there. As I pulled in I was still near an old barn so got around the down wind side and away as far as possible. Dumped the load. Sat and watched it burn.

Was the baled hay wet? It will of course get hot enough to catch fire if baled wet. Back in the old days when hay lofts were in the top of barns this was heard of every summer. I had a grandfather burn the bottom of his feet in one of these fires as a child. He only wore shoes when absolutely required for the rest of his life.

That sounds like a very rough day, especially the fence and the ditch and all of that. Was the fire department able to save any of it?
Zach

Sorry to hear about your hay but I'm glad to hear that you were able to find a place to dump it safely. Keeping a clear head like that is a very useful skill.
Zach

Came onto a pickup truck pulling a 5th wheel trailer load of straw on fire,along the road, one time. Fire department was using a bucket loader to push burning straw off trailer and into ditch. Truck was driven by a couple of teenagers. Guess what they were doing while driving down the road.. Would have liked to have been the proverbial fly on the wall when they got home with no straw and a scorched trailer. Bet dad had some choice words!

Another time, I was servicing a 2 way radio on a fire engine at a volunteer department. Asked the chief what the chances of a fire call were while I had the truck disabled. He allowed as pretty slim. Hardly got the words out his mouth when the fire phone went off. While he answered, I threw the truck back together. As he's diving for the driver's seat, I asked if I should hang around, and he told me in no uncertian terms to get up in the cab. Guess you press anyone into service in an emergency. Arrived on the scene: a grain field fire with a combine in the middle. Chief told me to get in the driver's seat and circle the fire. He got on top of the rig with a hose and put down the fire - drive by fire fighting. We got the fire out, and saved the combine. Fire probably from a spark off the combine. To this day, I don't know what gear I had that fire truck in....

Came onto a pickup truck pulling a 5th wheel trailer load of straw on fire,along the road, one time. Fire department was using a bucket loader to push burning straw off trailer and into ditch. Truck was driven by a couple of teenagers. Guess what they were doing while driving down the road.. Would have liked to have been the proverbial fly on the wall when they got home with no straw and a scorched trailer. Bet dad had some choice words!

Another time, I was servicing a 2 way radio on a fire engine at a volunteer department. Asked the chief what the chances of a fire call were while I had the truck disabled. He allowed as pretty slim. Hardly got the words out his mouth when the fire phone went off. While he answered, I threw the truck back together. As he's diving for the driver's seat, I asked if I should hang around, and he told me in no uncertian terms to get up in the cab. Guess you press anyone into service in an emergency. Arrived on the scene: a grain field fire with a combine in the middle. Chief told me to get in the driver's seat and circle the fire. He got on top of the rig with a hose and put down the fire - drive by fire fighting. We got the fire out, and saved the combine. Fire probably from a spark off the combine. To this day, I don't know what gear I had that fire truck in....

I thought of that. But the hay was dry. I baled it yesterday and loaded it not even an hour before the fire. The fire seemed to start right in the middle of the front. Either exhaust spark or wet hay the result was the same.

Wet hay tends to heat when stored in a stack. Heating takes some time to build up to get hot enough to ignite hay. Most likely a spark from machinery got it started.

Wasn't worried about losing the hay, many many more bales to go. But the worry of the fire was something. While I'm not one to lose my head, it's taking a while to calm down now it's over. This forum is good therapy.

some idiot tossed out a cig. and it landed in you hay.

I'm a smoker myself but keep my Butt under control.

A buddy of mine caught his 1065 on fire last year. A small exhaust leak burnt a plug wire, which caught a little hay chaff on fire, then that lit up the load. He got the load off and put out the fire on the wagon. Unfortunately, there was some dry weeds between where he dumped the load and the stack yard. He ended up burning up 20 more tons. At least he saved the wagon and most of his hay was still in the field. This year there's lots of bare dirt around that stack yard.

I'm glad that your fire wasn't any more serious than it was.

I work at the local lumber yard. One day I had a gentleman come in looking for a hose. I went to show him the garden section and he said NO he was looking to see if I had a hose hooked to a water source. He had a semi load of 1 ton bales that one of them had caught on fire. He poured water on it and poked holes all over in it to get the water all through the bale. After he had gotten a considerable amount of water in there he unstrapped it and I unloaded it with the forklift. He came back 3 or 4 days later and picked that one back up. He was sure nervous not knowing if he was going to have a truck left when he was done.


Steven

Do you smoke cigaretttes? Discarded Butts have started many,many fires.

Completely against smoking so wasn't that. And I didn't pass anyone so didn't get any "help" that way.

might be spontaneous combustion , on the verge and the wind through travelling set it off. 2c

might be time to check or replace your exhaust system.You dont notice it much during daylight,but at night,(we bale a lot at night here) you can see the the red hot pieces of rust flaking off from inside.It sure doesnt take much in dry hay to get it fired up,especially with a dry wind.If you dont have time to replace it now and your pretty sure thats what it is,make a spark arrestor of screen wire to fit over exhaust,that should help.