More than a dozen round hay bales caught fire on top of a trailer about four miles south of Fayette on Highway 240 Sunday evening. According to firemen from Howard County Fire Protection District Station No. 1, the fire started due to the friction of one of the bales rubbing against a trailer tire.

Fourteen hay bales burned and remain smoldering in a dirt field on the east side of Highway 240 near Salt Creek. A spokesman for the fire district said the bales will probably smolder and burn for a week because they are wrapped so tightly. The district will keep an eye on them and will intervene as necessary. The hay had been cut and baled only about two hours prior.

The fire occurred around 7 p.m. where the highway crosses Salt Creek in a valley by what is locally referred to as the “Lucky Barn.” It caused the highway to be closed for around an hour while fire crews put out the blaze. The names of the men pulling the trailer have not been revealed. They were traveling northbound toward Fayette and stopped in the middle of the roadway when they noticed the fire. They were able to detach the pickup truck from the trailer. Shane Hilgedick, a local farmer, used his tractor to push the burning bales off the trailer, saving it from further damage.