Fire was discovered early Tuesday morning burning in the center of 100 bales of hay on the Steven Donoho property in the 6600 block of State Route 161 Extension near the Old Bell Road intersection.
Kell Assistant Fire Chief Jason Franke says about 15 hay bales were involved in the fire. Farmers used on sight loader tractors to break the pile apart and move the burning hay bales out. Firefighters used brush trucks to get to the area where the bales were located. 2 7/8 inches of rain was reported on site overnight which made the area muddy. While the cause of the fire is unknown, there was cloud to ground lightening in the storm system.
Salem and Iuka FPD’s were initially called for tankers but once the area was better identified Iuka was cancelled and Salem brought brush equipment out to help in fighting the blaze. Some hay bales will continue to burn the next few days. They were moved to an area where they can burn and not spread to anything else.
Firefighters were called to the scene just before six am and were on scene for roughly two hours.