A Sunday afternoon fire destroyed a barn full of new hay owned by Sheriff Bill Davis, but West Polk Fire & Rescue stopped it from reaching a shed full of equipment and spreading into a wooded area.

Fire Chief Steve Lofty said the fire may have been started by wind-blown embers from some old hay bales that had been burned. He said burn patterns indicated the fire spread from the bales, which appeared to be out, toward the barn. Lofty said the ground had been broken around the old pond where the bales had been burned but airborne sparks apparently caused the new fire.

He said the barn was fully involved when firefighters arrived and the grass surrounding the barn was burning, threatening two equipment trailers and extending to the woods and a shed full of trucks and farm equipment. The trailers were moved out of the way and firefighters split into two teams -- one to protect the shed and the other to suppress the fire before it got into the woods.

Murray County GA brought an engine and brush truck and Bradley County also brought equipment to the scene to assist nearly 25 volunteers from West Polk Fire & Rescue, which had three tankers, two engines and a brush truck on the scene.

Lofty said it was too late to do anything about the barn, which was nearly full of new hay. He said it is difficult to extinguish hay bales once they start burning. The tin roof and walls caved in on the bales, which helped keep the sparks down. Firefighters focused on stopping the spread of the fire, which came within 10-15 feet of the equipment shed. “It was pretty intense,” he said, noting it burned high limbs in nearby trees.

Luckily, he said, there was a field of beans and a roadway which kept the fire from spreading in all directions. A key problem initially was the heavy smoke, which kept firefighters from seeing where the burning was. Once the second team knew where to focus, they were able to stop it about 30 feet from the woods.

Lofty said there was a good response from local volunteers, who were on the scene for several hours and returned later to check out hot spots, as well as the support from adjacent counties. He added that Thomas Sims, incident commander for the main fire, did a really good job of assessing priorities and focusing on the immediate need, which was protecting the trailers and the shed. The fire burned around 4-5 acres of grass, he said.