Lightning is likely cause of hay bale blaze in Tecumseh, Ont., says fire chief

Fire crews at the scene of a hay bale fire on 11th Concession Road in Tecumseh say they expect to be there for several more hours.

At around 10:30 a.m., they were waiting for heavy equipment to come and disperse the hay to help them extinguish the fire, Tecumseh Fire Chief Wade Bondy told CBC News.

Crews had been spraying water on nearby structures earlier in the morning to protect them from igniting, but the flames have died down to the point where they're no longer at risk, Bondy said.

Lightning is the likely cause of the blaze, he added.

"There's nothing suspicious about it," he said. "It was either lightning or, with the breakdown of the hay, it could be spontaneous as well, but most likely it was lightning."

The fire department was called to the scene of the blaze around 3:15 Wednesday morning.

Both stations responded, and crews called in tanker shuttles from Windsor, Lakeshore and LaSalle, Bondy said.