Burning hay bales close freeway

By Sarah Schwager
BURNING hay bales on the back of a truck took 40 CFA officers from around the area 90 minutes to control.
Officers from Beaconsfield, Berwick, Narre Warren and Hallam Fire Brigades, along with police, attended the blaze on Princes Freeway after the truck’s driver called 000.
The threetonne open tray truck was carrying hay bales, which ignited on the back, causing the rear of the truck to catch fire at 9.30am on Friday, 30 December.
The driver alerted authorities after noticing smoke coming from the back of the truck.
Fire crews worked to break up the smouldering hay bales and suppress the fire using water and foam.
The cause of the fire was attributed to the truck exhaust, which caused the top hay bales to ignite.
The fire caused Princes Freeway to be closed outbound between the Berwick turn off and Officer for more than two hours.
Beaconsfield Incident Controller Glenn Dorning said: “Fire crews worked well in the hot conditions to bring the incident under control and ensure that as little disruption as possible was caused by the freeway closure.”
Mr Dorning also encouraged drivers to be alert to key landmarks and signs while travelling on open roads due to initial confusion of the location of the incident, which was called in as being near Narre Warren.