Hay trailer fire

I felt so sorry for this guy as he was hauling the straw for sitting on during his western style wedding. He had a flat tire and pulled over to wait for Les Schwab to get there with a new tire as he did not have a spare for the trailer.

While he was waiting they walked over to the cafe right across the road to get a coffee while they waited. They sat around waiting and watching for the Les Schwab truck.

When they saw it coming they went back out to the truck and he noticed what looked like smoke coming from the hay. He brushed the hay and when he did the stack fell inwards and flames went everywhere.

He did not even have time to unhook his nice pickup from the trailer as the fire burst to life.

It scorched the pickup as seen in this photo but the police and passerby's and the command rig from the fire department were able to keep the pickup from being a total loss until the fire department could arrive.

A terrible thing to this nice pickup. We don't think about the fact that when we have a flat tire it gets really hot and the trailer had a wood bed and then the hay on top of that. The heat of the day also did not help.  Hay fires are almost impossible to put out no matter how much water you spray on them.

You can see the intense heat damage on this pickup and it never did catch on fire just burned from the heat and the plastic parts caught on fire.  Gives you an idea of how much heat the firemen are working in. 90 degrees outside, heavy turnout coats on and then the heat too. Of course they could not get this close without the protection of the heat but trust me they are hot in there.

Pulling the trailer out of the stack of hay.  You can see the little store and cafe where they had waited for Les Schwab. It was not far away at all and yet nothing was seen until it was to late.

What is left of a really nice flat bed trailer. Nothing to even salvage from it.

What we always have to remember is that no one was injured and for that we are thankful. One disappointed couple as they watch part of their wedding decorations go up in flame along with their trailer and their beautiful pickup damaged but it could have been worse.  It could have happened going down the road and caused a wreck and people hurt. We sometimes have to look hard to see something good in a tragic accident that affects our lives.