Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service has issued advice for farmers relating to hay bales after a call to a Talsarn property.

On July 5, a tactical officer from the service was alerted to a problem at the Herd on the Hill Animal Sanctuary in Talsarn at around 10.17am.

The officer arrived on the scene following reports of hay bales at the premises that appeared unusually warm.

Upon inspection, the bales were assessed for heat and moisture content.

Another tactical officer returned later that day with a team from Lampeter Fire Station to further monitor the situation.

During these visits, there was a removal of 20 hay bales from the barn and a home fire safety check was conducted which included the installation of smoke alarms.

During a reinspection the following day, the situation seemed to have escalated as the hay bales were discovered to have reached a critical temperature.

Consequently, an additional 100 bales were urgently removed from the barn, with the Lampeter crew being re-mobilised to the scene as a safety precaution. They continued to monitor the temperature of the bales and some had smoke coming from them.

In light of this event, the service felt compelled to remind farmers of the importance of farm fire safety, in a region largely populated by rural and agricultural communities.

They implored the farming community to utilise their free Bale Temperature Testing Service, which lets farmers request the service to check the temperature and moisture content of their hay bales with professional equipment.

As per the guidelines issued by the rescue service, stored bales should not contain more than 22 per cent moisture.

Bales with moisture levels exceeding this limit risk increasing in heat once stacked, thus becoming potential fire hazards.

Hay bales brought in for storage should also not exceed 35°C as this could also lead to spontaneous combustion.

In terms of the physical storage of hay bales, the service’s advice includes storing stacks separately (especially from barns housing livestock), keeping individual stacks to a reasonable size, ensuring stacks are dry, and avoiding storage of vehicles, chemicals, gas cylinders, and other machinery in barns containing hay bales.

To help farmers and landowners better protect their properties from fire, the service advises keeping an up-to-date Farm Fire Risk Assessment, developing a 'Fire Box' at the property's entrance with vital information such as location of water supplies, livestock details etc., considering fire truck accessibility, and never risking personal safety to rescue livestock.

As a precautionary measure, and in light of the events at Talsarn, the rescue service urges farmers to watch out for signs of bales overheating.

This could include certain irregularities such as browning, 'steaming' early in the morning or late in the night, a sweet sickly smell, or hay turning into a tobacco-like substance.

Immediately upon noticing such symptoms with your bales, or if your bales are smouldering or on fire, call 999 without delay.

For further information regarding the matter, please visit the Fire and Rescue service's website.