The Afton Volunteer Fire Department said a blown trailer tire was the cause of a hay fire on Highway 238 west of Afton on Tuesday afternoon.

Chief Dennis McDonald said the tire blew on the trailer the hay was on. The tire caught fire and spread to the hay, which was in large round bales. The driver was able to pull of the road into a field. He used a tractor to push the hay off the trailer in attempt to minimize damage. Chief McDonald said this made it fairly easy to extinguish the fire because the driver had the bales spread out instead of in a stack.  However, the fire still destroyed the trailer and 12 bales of hay.

The incident took place at roughly 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 19. The fire was located just west of the Bitter Creek Rd./Highway 238 intersection. Thick white smoke from the fire blew to the south across the road, causing limited to zero visibility at times for those passing by.