Fire departments from multiple Central Georgia counties and cities teamed up over the weekend to put out a massive hay bale fire.
Russell Davidson, the Bleckley County Fire Department public information officer, says it happened around 7:30 p.m. Saturday night on Pea Ridge Road and crews battled the blaze until around midnight.
He said one of the residents was sitting outside their home when they heard a power line snap and then 750-800 bales of hay went up in flames.
"It started out like this big, and then it just grew in a matter of seconds," says neighbor Shy-Ann Bowen. "I was just running around trying to find my little brother and sister."
Davidson says the hay bales belonged to a man named Ricky Dykes, who owns Dyke's Grassing, a road paving business.
"I personally have never seen this much fire... it reminded me of the wildfires in California," says Davidson. "We had over 18 thousand gallons of water available to fight the fire and we did have to go and re-fill some."
According to Davidson, the fire was caused by a snapped powerline, which created a spark
The hay was going to be fed to cows during the winter. He noted the fire was ‘extremely uncommon.’
Fire crews from Allentown and Dudley, as well as departments from Laurens and Twiggs Counties responded.
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