Hamilton’s fire service is working to extinguish 10 hay bales that were caught up in an earlier grass fire.
The service responded to reports of a large grass fire on Miles Rd in Glanbrook shortly after 1pm today and found “approximately 10 acres” of field on fire, says fire safety officer Bob Simpson.
The size of the fire required eight fire units at its peak, including water tankers.
The fire was quickly contained, but not before 10 large bales of hay were caught in the blaze and on fire.
“Once on fire, the fire becomes ‘deep-seated’ in the bales, meaning the bales must be broken apart to affect extinguishment,” says Simpson. “Heavy farm equipment is being brought in to move to bales to a central location to be extinguished in order to save the firefighters having to drag hose and relocate fire apparatus for every bale involved.”
The grass fire is out. Dry conditions and winds are likely factors in the quick spread of the fire. The nearby airport weather station has only recorded 2.03mm of rain thus far in July and 8.03mm in the past 30 days.