Members of the Altona Fire Department were called to a bale fire late Wednesday morning.
    
Altona/Rhineland Emergency Services Chief, Greg Zimmerman, explained the hay bales were on a truck being transported about three miles north of Rosenfeld.

"They the thousand-pound bales stacked on a truck and then on a trailer. Unfortunately the bales were stacked up next to the cab of the truck which is also where the exhaust of the truck empties out, so they had an exhaust pipe blowing right on the hay bale which started the fire."

Zimmerman added with the help of an area farmer, fire fighters were able to get the burning bales into a ditch and put out the fire. He noted that an early-arriving member was able to keep burning bits of hay away from the truck cab.

Meantime, the Chief is urging a word of caution as farmers begin moving their product around this fall.

"Make sure it (the load) is properly secured and stored and away from any potential ignition points."