Firefighters from two departments battled a large blaze on U.S. 98 Wednesday morning as a trailer load of hay caught fire near the Walthall County line.
Marion County Emergency Management Director Aaron Greer said the fire was reported near the intersection of U.S. 98 and Knoxo Road at 10:42 a.m.
“From what we were told, a passenger in the truck was smoking and threw a cigarette out the window and caught the hay on fire,” he said. “The Southwest Marion Volunteer Fire Department was called and I called Foxworth to bring water because we only had one other unit responding.”
The driver of the truck and his passenger managed to unhook the truck and move it away from the trailer. Firefighters battled the burning hay for a long time.
“The bales of hay were completely engulfed,” Greer said. “All of the hay, maybe 120 to 130 bales was lost. The trailer was damaged, but we managed to save most of it. The driver’s side tires were burned off.
Greer said the Mississippi Highway Patrol closed the right lane of westbound U.S. 98 until nearly 12:30 p.m., when units cleared the scene.
“The Mississippi Department of Transportation was called and used a front-end loader to remove the hay from the highway,” Greer said.
Greer said three members of his office helped battle the blaze, himself, Deputy Director Cindy Williamson and Communications Officer John Bowman. Greer did not have information on the driver and passenger of the vehicle. No injuries were reported and the truck that was hauling the hay was not damaged.
