Hay bales burn in fire close to town

    Firefighters from Imperial were called not far from town when bales of hay were reported burning at the Rob Schilke farm.
    Fire Chief Doug Mitchell said the full rural fleet of six trucks and the command car went to the scene about 4:25 p.m. last Thursday, a mile and a half northeast of Imperial.
    He didn’t know how many hay bales in the stack were damaged in the fire. Cause was unknown, he said.
    Mitchell said Schilke did a good job spreading out the bales with his equipment. The quick attack units sprayed water on some of the hot spots, he said.
    With a good wind blowing that afternoon, fire units also kept an eye on pasture ground to the east, but the fire did not spread there, he said. The heavy black smoke resulted when the fire burned into some plastic, he added.