One of our members who lives nearby went directly to the scene. He called Kent Dispatch to relay information about the fire and update the location. The location was corrected to Great Oak Landing Road, near the air strip approximately one-half mile off Handy Point Road. While cutting wheat, the farmer had made a small stack of about seven hay bales. The farmer stated the bales just took off and started to burn. Most likely, the wheat fodder in the bales were probably still a little green, and they “went through a heat”. That is a euphemism we use to describe spontaneous combustion. When uncured organic matter is packed tightly together, the matter starts to decompose, sometimes at a greatly accelerated rate. The internal temperature of the bales(s) can get hot enough to self-ignite. It’s believed that’s what happened here.

The fire had spread to the adjacent wheat stubble in the field. Fortunately, the farmer had a couple water wagons on-site for just this possibility. They were able to quickly contain the fire before it got out of hand, causing an incident akin to the one we handled yesterday in Broad Neck. The level of response was reduced to non-emergency, meaning our emergency vehicles turned off the emergency lights and sirens, and continued in a routine manner.

Upon our arrival we used our brush truck to wet down the immediate area as a precaution, ensuring the fire was completely out. Using our tanker, we replenished the farmer’s supply of water, against the possibility of another fire. We thank and congratulate the farmer for taking the precaution of having water wagons on hand, and the willingness to make use of them. Nobody wants to deal with a fire like we handled yesterday.