ANOTHER 600 round bales of hay valued at about $70,000 has been destroyed in a stack fire at Mepunga East.
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Warrnambool Fire Brigade operations officer Henry Barton said the alarm was raised just prior to 3am on Friday when the bales stacked under cypress trees caught fire.
"This was local hay. Excavators were brought in and pulled the bales away from trees. An earth break was put around the area to allow the fire to burn out," he said.
"We've had trucks there intermittently and we'll be spreading out the hay Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully we'll be in a position to bury what remains on Sunday afternoon.
“We need to make sure the fire is completely extinguish with the coming fire danger period. Fortunately we've been favoured by benign weather in the past few days," he said.
It's the third haystack fire in the region during the past couple of weeks with hay valued at $100,000 destroyed at Princetown and another haystack fire in the Woolsthorpe area.
"This fire has resulted in a fair commitment from our volunteers in units around the Mepunga area. If nothing else the fires have prompted farmers to check and ensure their hay is not overheating," Mr Barton said.
The Country Fire Authority has also issued a warning for the Strathdownie area with a planned burn this weekend.
The CFA warned that during the next two days there would be a planned grassland burn around the perimeter of a peat fire to strengthen containment lines.
The burn will take place when the conditions are favourable.
The peat fire started on November 7 sparked by lightning and massive resources have been thrown at the blaze to contain the potential danger with the summer fire danger period fast approaching.
Bores have been drilled, aerial bombers dropped water, sprinklers put in place and a moat built around the 12-hectare burn to a depth of five metres to stop it spreading into the remainder of the 400-hectare peat swamp.
The peat fire is about 20 kilometres north-east of Mount Gambier.
The fire is currently listed as under control but windy conditions at the weekend are expected to see an increase in smoke actively.
Smoke has been visible from nearby communities and roads and at times caused a hazard to road users.