ANTON — Fifty people were evacuated to a school Friday night after a gigantic hay stack at the Daisy Lane Dairy burst into flame near Anton, authorities say.
Winds whipping up to 35 mph hours were blowing embers into a grass field near trailers housing dairy workers and their families around 8 p.m., said Mike McCaleb, emergency management director of Washington County.
Dairy workers were grinding hay around 1 p.m. when the machine they were using overheated and ignited a hay stack about 25 feet high and the length of two football fields, McCaleb said.
About 30 firefighters from four fire departments — Southwest Washington County and the towns of Cope, Joes and Kirk — responded to the blaze and kept it contained.
But in the evening, strong winds lifted flaming embers and carried them into a field near the trailers, McCaleb said. About 50 residents of the trailers were possibly at risk, he said.
“We evacuated them as a precautionary measure,” he said.
The American Red Cross set up a shelter at the Arickaree School in Anton for 20 adults and 10 children, said Ray LaLone, spokesman for the Red Cross. Community members began bringing food and provisions for the displaced residents shortly after they arrived at the shelter.
Residents were permitted to return to their homes after 8 this morning; however, the hay bale will likely burn and smolder for a few days and evacuations may be needed if winds pick up again, McCaleb said.
Hundreds of dairy cows were in a barn that was not downwind of the burning hay bale and are safe, he said.
The National Weather Service has warned of increased fire danger this season.
On Friday, five wildfires broke out around the state including one along the South Platte River north of Deckers. The fire, near the Platte River Campground on Colorado 67, was reportedly started by a downed power line, sheriff’s spokesman Mark Techmeyer said.
No evacuations were ordered and the five-acre fire was fully contained by 6 p.m., Techmeyer said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
