A Thursday morning blaze at an Aroostook hay and feed farm destroyed about 100 tons of product waiting to be processed, but resulted in no injuries.
Staff of Lucerne Farms, which sits on the line between Fort Fairfield and Easton, arrived Thursday morning to find flames atop an unprocessed hay pile.
“We had a little excitement here this morning,” company president Richard James said. “We dry hay here, and it was a pile of hay that was waiting to be processed.”
Fort Fairfield Fire and Rescue crews were on scene aiming hoses at the wet, smoky mass, while a backhoe shifted portions of the pile.
The fire was likely a result of spontaneous combustion, James said. With humidity and some rain in the past few days, the hay has been wet — which ironically can cause hay to heat up and ignite.
Wet hay generates bacteria and fungi, which in turn create heat. Hay is an insulator and keeps oxygen away from the building heat, leading to combustion, according to Oklahoma State University.
The fire damaged no structures or equipment. The pile of hay, roughly 100 tons, was lost, but in a facility that generates thousands of tons, the loss is minimal, James said.
Lucerne Farms produces animal feed and bedding, ground cover and mulch.
