It was a long night Friday for members of the Altona/Rhineland Fire Department.

Fire Chief Greg Zimmerman said around 10:25 PM a call came in for a bale fire north of Altona along Highway 30.

"We had somewhere between eighty to a hundred round bales that were all burning at the same," he explained.

Zimmerman noted that putting out these types of fires is no easy task.

"You pretty much have to break them open and wet them down. While they're piled up you have to be very careful, occasionally the big bales manage to fall off the top and on to the ground and you certainly don't want to be underneath when it happens."

He said it took the use of a backhoe, farm machinery and 35,000 gallons of water to extinguish Friday's night's blaze.

"We were fortunate that people were there with their tractor right away so we were able to get some separation to get it (the fire) from spreading to any buildings or other hay bales."