Hay inferno

By Monique Ebrington
A HEALESVILLE man is lucky to be alive after his truckload of hay burst into flames along Maroondah Highway late last Wednesday, 6 January.
Truck driver Chris Pritchett had picked up a large load of square hay bales from Ayres Road to deliver to another property in Healesville just after 6.30pm.
Mr Pritchett said he was near the intersection of Maroondah Highway and Lilydale Road when he noticed other motorists flashing their headlights and signalling for him to pull over.
He managed to stop his flatbed truck just before the Healesville-Kinglake Road turn-off and residents were quick to inform Healesville Police about the danger, just a door away from the station.
Senior Constables Chris Grasby and Aaron Eker of Healesville were swift in setting up road blocks at Harker Street and Healesville-Kinglake Road.
Sen Const Grasby said it took only a few minutes for three fire tankers from Healesville CFA and one from Badger Creek CFA to arrive at the scene.
“The truck was fully engulfed in flames when we got there,” Sen Const Grasby said.
“It could have got ugly if the CFA weren’t so quick to respond.”
Sen Const Grasby said the driver was lucky to survive the intense fire caused by the large amount of hay.
“The hay was so dense the CFA [members] had to pull it all off the truck using rakes, to make sure it was fully extinguished,” he said.
“The fire could have been going for a long time before the driver realised what was going on.
“So he was very lucky that he noticed it and pulled over.”
Healesville CFA Captain Graeme Bates said many brigade members were aware of the fire before they had reached the burning truck.
“Everyone could see the column of black smoke before we had even got there,” Mr Bates said.
He said that it took crews around 10 minutes to get the fire under control.
“The clean-up went on longer than the fire did,” he said.
“We had to spray foam on the hay and rake it out and break it off.
“The flames reached around five metres and melted the plastic on a nearby streetlight.
“Everyone is lucky that it turned out alright,” he said.
According to Healesville Police the fire, estimated to have caused $10,000 to $15,000 damage, was caused by the hay being stacked too close to the exhaust stack behind the truck’s cabin.