Burning bales: Firefighting efforts span two days

Firefighting efforts were winding down Monday at a hay-bale fire that had burned since Sunday morning near Somers.

Somers-Lakeside Fire Chief Tom Havens said roughly 600 bales of hay caught fire along Lower Valley Road on Sunday morning after sitting stacked in the sun for three weeks.

“The combustion came from underneath and spread from there,” Havens said Monday afternoon. “There’s no more flames, but there’s still a few hot bales in the middle of everything. I’m hoping that by 9 tonight, we’ll be able to wrap this up.”

The Somers-Lakeside Fire Department was called to the scene at 7:57 Sunday morning.

Havens said as he got closer to the fire, he could see clouds of smoke rolling from the field and knew he would have to call for backup.

“A neighbor had called it in, and we’re pretty lucky it was caught when it was,” he said.

Roughly 30 people responded to put out the fire, including firefighters from Bigfork and South Kalispell fire departments and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

As the ground crew worked to put out the flames, a helicopter dropped water on the fire throughout the day. Havens estimated 140,000 gallons of water had been used to suppress the flames.

The crews worked until 10 p.m. Sunday and were back by 7:30 a.m. Monday, Havens said.

Throughout Monday, 12 firefighters and several neighbors worked with a small loader and two excavators to break apart the burning hay.

“People from around the area have been checking in on the family and some neighbors have worked alongside us,” Havens said. “It’s good to see that these guys are helping each other out in the Lower Valley.”

The fire sent up a broad plume of smoke over the Lower Valley on Sunday.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.