Firefighters to monitor barn that has caught fire several times in Preble Co.

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New Paris Fire Chief Brian Petry told our news crew that the barn was full of hay. So, they have been trying to spread hay bales and soak them with water so the fire will not reignite.

Firefighters were initially dispatched to the 5900 block of Orangeburg Road at around 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 21, as previously reported.

They worked all night putting water on the fire. Petry said that firefighters went back out on Saturday and stayed until 4 a.m. on Sunday. Firefighters put more water on hotspots and moved hay.

His crews returned on Tuesday night. Petry said that a wall of hay stretching about 30 feet was in flames.

Petry said that he thinks that the hay is to blame for the hotspots.

“The bale is packed so tightly, and then eventually it will spontaneously combust on its own. So that’s what we’ve been doing since Friday: we’re trying to take apart all the bales that were in there, that were in the barn, and spread them out so that we can get water on to all of it,” he said.

At least 10 different fire departments have helped in Preble County.

“I mean, the size of all the area departments, we all have 1-2 trucks; they carry water on them, one to two engines,” said Petry. “So, that requires us to call mutual aid and rely on our mutual aid partners, and they’ve responded with a resounding yes to our call for help.”

He said that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been called about this fire. They said that this is an agricultural burn and to just let it go as long as it does not impact any buildings or get in the way of traffic.

We will continue to update this story.

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