OKOLONA, Miss. (WTVA) -- Smoke could be seen for miles as stacks and stacks of hay burned at the Ed Edens Farm in Okolona.
Firefighters responded to the fire at 11:30 a.m. on Highway 32 Extended.
The good news is they were able to save the barn through team work.
Walter Randle watches as firefighters joins forces with farm employees to save a 40x120 foot barn.
He says everything happened so fast.
"We were fixing to grind some hay and he told me the barn was on fire and I jumped off the tractor and jumped in my truck to find a water hose," Randle said.
Randle would quickly realize they needed some serious help.
In just a matter of minutes large, round hay bales flamed up.
Firefighters arrived with a huge challenge on their hands.
They had to save the barn.
"We had about four to five rows up high and probably rows of round hay bales and regular hay and corn stalks. Farmers are trying to save the hay because of a shortage this year. We just had to take it a row at at time and it was very difficult," Okolona Assistant Chief Andrew McDonald said.
"It's real dangerous because you could have a collapse where the hay falls on a firefighter or a tractor and it traps them. It's a dangerous, slow process," Okolona Fire Chief Terry Tucker said.
It's difficult and dangerous.
"It's difficult (because) you have to use tractors to remove bales of hay and as you pull them out they ignite, so the firefighter has to spray the bales of hay off as the tractor driver removed the hay," Chief Tucker added.
