Firefighters now say 70 hay bales were rendered unusable after fire developed west of Reading on Tuesday afternoon.
Emporia Fire Battalion Chief Tony Fuller says the fire started as a controlled burn but got into the hay bale storage area for currently unlisted reasons. Firefighters set a backfire around the hay bales to create a buffer strip and limit the risk of a rekindle later. Once the backfire was extinguished, fire crews went available.
Fuller says Emporia’s rural fire unit and Allen-Admire responded to the fire. Reading was paged but was unable to assist. Early indications had around 50 bales involved. There were no injuries.
7:30 pm Tuesday: Over 50 hay bales destroyed by fire west of Reading
A fire destroyed over 50 large hay bales northeast of Emporia on Tuesday.
Emporia and Reading firefighters were called to the 1500 block of Road 250, just east of the junction of Kansas Highways 99 and 170 and just west of Southern Power’s Reading Wind Facility, around 4:30 pm. They found at least 50 bales either destroyed or already involved in fire.
Firefighters spent close to two hours at the site before clearing. A cause is under investigation. No injuries have been reported.
