General News
4 March, 2021
Haystack combustion ignites blaze at Ridley Agriproducts
A FIRE which ripped through a hay shed at Ridley Agriproducts in Terang earlier this week could have burned for days if not for a collaborative effort between local Country Fire Authority (CFA) brigades and employees of Ridley and W.A Molan and Sons.
A FIRE which ripped through a hay shed at Ridley Agriproducts in Terang earlier this week could have burned for days if not for a collaborative effort between local Country Fire Authority (CFA) brigades and employees of Ridley and W.A Molan and Sons.
The blaze ignited in a 20m by 30m haystack located on the left side of the Peterborough Road facility at approximately 12:30pm Monday.
CFA District 6 commander Mark Steven said Ridley employees noticed the smouldering and alerted the CFA, who sent “a huge amount of resources to extinguish the blaze”.
He said the CFA identified exposures (surrounding areas) as a large shed holding feed on one side and trees and a horse training yard on the other side.
“With haystacks, the best cause of action is usually to let them burn rather than try to suppress it which means it just burns for longer,” he said.
“Our objective was to protect exposures because all surrounding assets were important and the haystack was a loss from the beginning, so we were not focusing our efforts on extinguishing it because that would only prolong the fire fight.
“We did that in consultation with both Ridley and the adjacent land owner and came up with a plan we were all happy with.”
Commander Steven said the plan was for CFA brigades to surround the blaze to contain it to a single area.
As the bales burned and the heat became less intense, Ridley and W.A Molan and Sons employees removed the still-burning hay using front end loaders and an excavator, which spread the hay and allowed for the fire to be brought under control gradually.
Some of the workers remained on site all night to ensure the fire remained under control.
“The structure was damaged beyond repair so we’ve had to demolish the shed and remove the hay to break it up and let it all burn down,” Commander Steven said.
“I was very happy with the timeframe for how quickly the fire was brought under control. It was a great response from local crews.
“It was under control as of about midnight on Monday.”
Commander Steven praised the efforts of those involved with fighting the fire.
“If it had have gone under its own steam it would have burnt for four days or more without the excavator and front end loaders pulling it apart.”
Commander Steven said the cause of the fire was believed to be spontaneous combustion, and the CFA was confident the cause was not suspicious.
“The shed had smoke coming from the centre of the hay, which would indicate there has been spontaneous combustion somewhere in the stack,” he said.
“If there is still wet grass when the hay is baled, that grass can break down, ferment, and can generate its own heat which will get to a point where it can spontaneously combust, so a fire in a haystack can be smouldering for a long time before we even see any sign of fire.
“The indicators are if there is smoke coming from the middle its burning from its own heat, so that’s why we are pretty confident there are no suspicious circumstances.”
CFA brigades from Terang, Boorcan, Bookaar, Bostocks Creek, Camperdown, Cobrico, Cobden, Dixie, Garvoc, Kolora, Noorat and Barongarook were among those responding with approximately 12 appliances in total.
“They were all CFA crews, and we also had Fire Rescue Victoria respond with its aerial pumper from Warrnambool,” Commander Stevens said.
A spokesperson for Ridley Agriproducts said the blaze would not impact supply.
“While the fire was located in the hay storage area at the rear of the property, the site was evacuated and no one was hurt,” the spokesperson said.
“Production was temporarily suspended but the blending and milling facilities were not impacted. Emergency services cleared the site and production resumed Tuesday morning.
“There was no impact on supply to our customers. The cause of the fire is being investigated.”
