Load of hay catches fire on Missouri River bridge
Truck drivers crossing into Nebraska Friday had to act quickly to save their load of hay
By News Channel Nebraska
NEBRASKA CITY – Nebraska City Fire and Rescue assisted truck drivers Friday morning to save a $40,000 load of hay that caught fire crossing the Missouri River bridge.
David Wehtje of Gothenburg said the truck had left the Travel Centers of America location off of Interstate 29 near Percival with a Nebraska City destination.
Wehtje: “We didn’t get five miles from the TA down there and saw smoke. We disconnected, we pulled the bale off and we called the fire department.”
There are over 30 bales of hay on the trailer and the top bale nearest the truck caught fire.
Wehtje: “We hooked a tarp strap to it and we pulled it off with the truck. We can’t let that whole load go up – that’s $40,000.”
Firefighters were able to spread out the bale and extinguish the fire before it could spread to the rest of the load.
