How damp hay can spark a blaze in your shed

Glenburn CFA First Lieutenant David Webb Ware talks about the potential of hay shed fires being sparked by wet hay. Source: Country Fire Authority

Transcript

00:00The number one cause of haystack fires is when hay containing too much moisture

00:04spontaneously combust. Hay overheats when there's too high a moisture content in

00:08the hay before and during baling and if the hay gets wet after baling. You should

00:14regularly check your haystack to make sure it's not overheating. If you have

00:18one use a temperature probe to check the temperature inside the haystack. An

00:22effective alternative is a crowbar inserted into the haystack. If after two

00:29hours the crowbar is too hot to hold, the temperature is over 70 degrees and

00:34likely to spontaneously combust. A useful strategy when it comes to storing hay

00:39is to limit the size of haystacks and place them in different locations so

00:43that they're not all stored in one place.