Change in fuel faulted for sparking fire as farmer hauled 11 bales of hay across a field

LEWISTON – You know how it is. You try to save a few bucks by switching gas products and the next thing you know, a trailer full of hay goes up in flames behind you.

Okay. Maybe you don’t know how it is, but Roger Belanger does.

The Ferry Road farmer was hauling 11 bales of hay across a field Thursday when the hay caught fire.

Belanger wasn’t hurt and he was able to save his tractor and most of his trailer.

Fire officials later determined that a different kind of fuel used in the tractor likely caused the sparks that started the fire.

For Belanger, the Thursday blaze was a flaming sense of deja vu.

Earlier this summer, on Aug. 3, the same thing happened in the very same field.

In that case, he was unable to unstrap the burning hay and topple it to the ground in order to save his trailer.

The hay burned in the earlier fire and so did the trailer. Belanger’s losses were estimated at $5,000.

He learned a lesson from that earlier incident.

When flames reared behind him Thursday, Belanger was ready to minimize his losses.

“This time, he was able to reach those straps and push the bales off,” said fire Investigator Paul Ouellette. “The bed of the trailer was scorched, but the tractor is fine.”

Damage Thursday was limited mostly to the hay, which is valued at roughly $70 a bale, Ouellette said.

The hay was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived to put it out. Ouellette spent part of the afternoon examining the blackened remains and speaking with Belanger. It turns out that the farmer has recently began using No. 1 fuel oil instead of No. 2 in his tractor. As Ouellette pointed out, one fuel burns hotter than the other.

“The fuel he was using creates a lot more sparks from the exhaust port,” Ouellette said. “That’s potentially the cause of both fires.”