Fire Destroys Nearly 1,000 Hay Bales in Comstock: LIVE Report

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Thousands of hay bales catch fire early this morning near Comstock, south of Moorhead, and it’s been burning all day long.

The cause is anyone’s guess.

Just hours ago, the scene behind me looked much different.

The area was covered in smoke and these hay bales were in flames.

I talked to first responders about what happened.
 
Nearly one thousand hay bales, up in flames this morning.
 
“It’s a little unsure how it started. It started on the north end of the bale pile so it wasn’t like somebody drove by and threw a cigarette out,” says Clay County Sheriff Bill Bergquist.
 
“With today’s extremely dry and windy conditions, Sabin officials needed three other departments to bring water.”
 
“Something they’re trying to do is keep it from getting into that corn field because if it gets into the corn field that would be one big fire.”
 
Much like this past spring, the Minnesota DNR has categorized the southern Red River Valley as abnormally dry, making the job of first responders harder.
 
“Where we really see a problem with our issues with fire is that when we see the relative humidity drop and the wind pick up, it makes it very prone for a fire to start and to easily spread,” says Fargo Fire Marshall Ryan Erickson.
 
And he’s not just talking about rural areas.

People in Fargo and Moorhead are also at risk if they don’t take proper precautions.
 
“It’s that time of year that it starts happening so we just want people to make sure that they’re being careful especially throwing cigarettes out the window,” says Sheriff Bergquist.
 
“If you’re having a recreational fire, take care to make sure you attend that fire. You have to be able to extinguish it,” says Erickson.
 
It took about 6 hours to put this fire out.

Next week is the start of fire prevention week where fire officials will be reminding people about the importance of having working smoke alarms in every room.