Lightning sparks hay fire.

[mallardisme]

From MFD:
Maricopa, Ariz. (July 21, 2010) At approximately 10:00am, fire crews responded to a report of a debris fire one mile south west of the 38000 block of W. Cowtown Rd.

As crews arrived on scene they found a large pile of hay approximately 50 feet long 50 feet wide and 20 feet high, heavily involved in flame with no intimidate exposures.

Fire crews worked with the employees on the property to break up the pile using bulldozers and other heavy equipment. The fire was quickly contained.


The fire was the result of a witnessed lighting strike from a morning storm.

_____________________________________________________________

I was driving home about the time of this. I caught up with the storm while driving SB on 347 at about the M mountain. The storm was very concentrated and had heavy up and down lightning hitting the ground.  It was going about the same speed I was driving. I heard the first call. PD got the first dispatch. RP reported that he saw lightning strike and then a plume of smoke go up. When MFD arrived, they saw that the folks running the yard were already well on top of this. They were using forklifts to take away what was not on fire and had huge water tankers that they were using to keep the flames from spreading. MFD set up a perimeter and had equipment and water, if needed, but the yard was very prepared for just such an event.

[KendoPt4]

[Tigg]

Sounds like the company had put together a solid emergency response plan and held drills to ensure that the employees knew exactly what to do in case of a fire!  It's great to see that they were able to quickly get things under control and keep this from being a much larger concern for their business, their employees lives, and the effects from the smoke on the community.  They still lost probably quite a chunk of change today, but this shows just how important it is to be prepared and how important that preparedness is when it's really needed.

[mallardisme]

Without a question, Tigg.
They lost around 600 tons of hay.

MFD was happy because they did not have to fix a poor plan. Everything was done exactly right.

...Darn those feed lots. LOL (Sorry, I had to say it,after standing next to the evil cows... I checked, none were named O'Leary)

[Sam]

You asked the cows what their names were?

[mallardisme]

You asked the cows what their names were?

No.. I narrowed them down to Chicago.
There were 3 that I am still keepin my eye on...

[Fritzydoodle]

It went right over your head Sam 

[Desert Dweller]

I saw Howard Waggner News of Maricopa photo credits on channel 10 last night.  Cool beans!

[mallardisme]

I have to give credit where credit is due.

I was speaking to someone from MFD today about this fire. He was a volunteer firefighter for the town of Maricopa. He told me about a fire at the same location over 10 years ago.

When firefighters arrived then, they found very long stacks of hay that were spaced close together. Water was scarce and the winds were blowing. The fire progressed and spot fires took out several other lines of hay bales.

After all was said and done, the firefighters made suggestions to keep this from happening again.
The owners took this information and did act on the suggestions. The hay was very well broken up. The distance between hay groupings was probably bigger than what was suggested, Water tankers were very available, and forklifts were immediately used to take fuel away that was not on fire.

These folks lost about $60,000 on this fire. 600 tons went up in smoke. That is big, but it was nowhere near what they lost the last time. On top of that MFD never had to use their equipment on this fire. The yard had it very well contained. MFD maintained the perimeter and were on site in case the fire spread.

In this case, preparations for this type of incident is what really saved the day.