STRONG — Rupert Pratt wasn’t expecting to spend his holiday weekend at home on River Run Farm. But when his brother-in-law showed up at his camp in the early morning hours on Sunday his holiday plans took a sudden turn for the worse.

Pratt, who runs the cattle farm on South Strong Road with his wife, Sue, soon learned that the 250 to 300 bales of hay stored inside his barn were on fire, as well as the tarp covering them.

“That was probably one-half the feed for the cattle for next winter,” Pratt said Sunday evening. “I’m just going to have to replace it.”

Pratt said he expects the total loss to be between $10,000 and $12,000 for the lost bales of hay alone, plus another $5,000 to $6,000 for a replacement tarp.

According to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, the call came in about 1:38 a.m. Firefighters from Strong and five other surrounding towns responded to the blaze.

Pratt said it looks as though the cause of the blaze was a hay bale that spontaneously combusted and spread to the other bales. He said that such an event can occur from a hay bale that isn’t completely dry when put into storage. As it dries, the hay creates heat and will eventually catch fire.