The Valentine Volunteer Fire Department was paged to the report of a hay bale fire on Saturday morning at the Dodsen place south of Valentine on Hwy 97. A couple more bales were burning on Monday when a second page went out to Valentine firemen on Monday at about 10:45. Fire crews were on scene briefly for both calls that burned a total of 4 big round bales. The fires did not spread to nearby grassland. According to Fire Chief Terry Engels, the fires are blamed on spontaneous combustion.
On a related note, Cherry County Emergency Management Director Matt Sandoz reiterated to KVSH news that the burn ban in Cherry County remains in effect, and it appears that with the dry conditions the burn ban will remain in effect indefinitely until the region is able to benefit from substantial rainfall. The forecast for the area does not indicate high odds for rain at least through the rest of this week. Many area counties are under similar burn bans, and area listeners are asked to use extra caution when outdoors over the next few weeks.