BY MICHAEL BOOTH
For the Democrat-Herald | Posted: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:00 am
Highway 99W was reopened after road crews cleared the aftermath of a burning double flatbed tractor-trailer, fully-loaded with hay.
The double trailer caught fire between Airport Road and Greenberry Road, south of Corvallis, just before 10:30 a.m. this morning.
Local farmers using their own pump trucks were the first to respond and had the blaze contained by the time the Monroe Fire Department made the 12 mile trek.
Emergency operators called the location a "dead zone," between rural fire department jurisdictions.
Smoke from the hay fire could be spotted from a distance of five miles on Highway 99W.
The Benton County Public Works Department has sent a front loader to push the hay into a drainage ditch. A tow truck will then clear the charred tractor-trailer.
The road was closed to traffic until approximately 1:30 p.m.
A power pole on the east side of the highway was partially burned, but power was not interrupted.
The exact cause of the fire is unknown, but a responding deputy believed spontanious combustion, not uncommon with large hay loads, may have occurred.