BETHEL — The state Fire Marshal’s office has been called to assist in the investigation of Sunday’s large hay bale fire on East Bethel Road.
Bethel Fire Chief Mike Jodrey said Art Lavoie of the state’s Forest Service was unable to find a cause of the fire when he investigated Monday afternoon and has asked the Fire Marshal’s office to investigate. They are expected on-site Wednesday.
“It’s still unknown,” he said of the cause of the fire that ignited about 100 round bales of hay Sunday evening. The hay was being stored behind a barn owned by John and Eva Coolidge of 994 East Bethel Road.
The Coolidge family was at a cookout nearby when Eva and John’s son Ryan noticed fire coming from the back of their barn, where the hay was stockpiled three bales high, at about 6 p.m.
Coolidge said she and her husband, John, and others rushed to hook up hoses to try to contain the fire, which was threatening the adjacent East Bethel Grange Hall.
Fires have been plaguing the state all week due to hot temperatures and very dry ground.
The Forest Service rated the fire danger in the Bethel and Rumford area Tuesday as “extreme.”
According to the Forest Service rating, “fires under extreme conditions start quickly, spread furiously, and burn intensely.”
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