HUNTLEY – Members of the Torrington Fire Department and Yoder Fire Department battled a haystack fire just southeast of Torrington on Wyoming State Highway 92, on Monday.

About a dozen personnel responded to the scene near Huntley for the report of a row of hay bales and an adjacent field engulfed in flames.
The wind speeds and mild temperatures contributed to the blaze and additional water tanks were brought to the location to help battle the inferno. 

“It was called in as two little spot fires that were close to a haystack and by time our trucks had made it there, the fire had reached the haystack,” Torrington Fire Chief, Lance Petch said. 

“At this time, there is no idea what started the fire. [The responders] tried to see what was going on but obviously with those kinds of fires they move quick so trying to find evidence of what actually started them is difficult,” Petch said. “But being alongside the road it could be a lot of different things.”

Yoder Fire Department also assisted in battling the fire. 

“We did ask for mutual aid from Yoder and they sent numerous vehicles,” Petch said. “They sent trucks to put fire out and also sent one of the water trucks so we had extra water on hand with our tanker.” 

North and south bound traffic was stopped on the highway and rerouted due to heavy smoke and emergency personnel attending to the situation. 

No injuries were reported. 

“If people are going to do burning on their own, it’s important that they try to check the weather,” Petch said. “It’s important to know what the weather is going to be like the day they are burning. It is low relative humidity, windy, high heat, mixed with the fuels we have now it’s not the best,” he explained. “The most important thing truly, is to make sure and let the police department know what is happening.”

The police department lists reported controlled burns on a board to avoid paging out departments for the sign of fire and smoke when there is no actual emergency. 

“Otherwise, if they don’t report it and dispatch gets that phone call, dispatch is going to page us out and everyone goes out to the fire and it is getting harder and harder for some of us to leave work,” Petch said.