By Jed Lanyon
A truck transporting hay caught fire in Healesville causing the Maroondah Highway to be blocked for several hours on the morning of Friday 20 September.
Healesville CFA Captain Graeme Bates said that they received calls to a hay truck that had caught fire at 7.30am along the Maroondah Highway on the corner of Healesville-Koo Wee Rup Road.
Police were forced to close the highway for several hours while CFA crews from Healesville, Coldstream and Badger Creek worked to extinguish the blaze.
Coldstream CFA Captain Sean Bethell said that 18 large bales of hay were lost to the fire.
The truck had been carrying two trailers of hay and Mr Bates said the driver did a great job at helping contain the fire by dropping both trailers off separately from the truck to prevent the fire from spreading.
Mr Bates said that the CFA were at the scene for over five hours and required the assistance of a front end loader from VicRoads to push the hay off the trailers.
“We couldn’t get to the fire in between the bales, so VicRoads pushed the hay off the truck with a front end loader and we put it out as they pushed it off,” he said.
While the cause of the fire is yet to be determined, Mr Bates said that it may have originated from the truck’s wheels or tyres as they were severely burnt.
