General News
12 June, 2024
$½m export bales lost in shed fire
HAY worth up to $500,000 has been destroyed in a weekend fire days before it was to hit the export market. More than 1400 bales of export oaten way burst into flames Saturday morning at Yarrayne, 10km south of Serpentine. Another 220 bales of vetch...
HAY worth up to $500,000 has been destroyed in a weekend fire days before it was to hit the export market.
More than 1400 bales of export oaten way burst into flames Saturday morning at Yarrayne, 10km south of Serpentine.
Another 220 bales of vetch hay already sold to the domestic market were also destroyed.
Intensity of the fire blew out panels on Steve Brown’s shed and wiped out his 2023 hay yield.
“More or less the whole lot (gone),” he said.
Fire brigades from Serpentine and Bridgewater were among the first to respond when the fire was reported about 6.30am.
They received another three calls to the property until Monday when signs were erected on the Loddon Valley Highway telling motorists the fire was under control.
Mr Brown and CFA volunteers expect the hay will burn for at least another fortnight.
He said the hay had been cut last October and baled the next month “We had the export hay ready to go to Hay Australia at Bridgewater on Monday,” Mr Brown said.
“The shed was near enough at capacity ... only 120 bales had been taken out before Saturday.”
Mr Brown said checks of the bales last week had shown correct storage temperatures in the hay. The baling had been done correctly and I’m at a bit of a loss to explain how it happened,” he said.
“I can only assume there has been water egress somewhere for this to happen. There was self-combustion but we have not been able to work out the water source.
“And security footage shows there was no one at the property in the days leading up to Saturday morning.”
Mr Brown said: “Things are bad but could be worse.”
CFA volunteers said reports to 000 of the hayshed fire had continued to be logged as new incidents on Monday. A roadside information sign that had been at Bridgewater was then shifted to the Loddon Valley Highway.