Internal combustion in a hay bale is suspected to be the cause of a large fire at Quigley Contracting.
It is understood the losses of about 12,000 bales and two hay sheds total than $1.5 million.
It is the second such fire at the site; there was a similar blaze in April, 2021.
Fire Emergency NZ could not say what the cause was when asked by The Ashburton Courier on Tuesday, as an investigation was still under way.
But Quigley Contracting’s Andrew Quigley said while the cause was not yet confirmed, it was probably an ‘‘unfit bale’’.
The bales were high density, and if a bale was also high moisture, that could build up heat, causing it to combust.
‘‘We have pretty strict procedures and processes around not letting that happen,’’ Quigley said.
The fire was in a similar area to where the 2021 fire was.
‘‘Probably the most gutting thing from our point of view, this has happened again four years later, it’s absolutely devastating,’’ he said.
‘‘A lot of the product was presold all over New Zealand, it’s a big disruption to our business.’’
One of the two sheds that burned down was under construction at the time of the 2021 fire, the second was about 10 years old.
Quigley said the fire, which broke out about 11.30pm on Wednesday last week, was first noticed by a neighbour.
Quigley was grateful to the ‘‘incredible’’ and ‘‘tireless’’ teams of firefighters, from brigades throughout Mid Canterbury and as far away as Timaru.
He was also grateful to Stuart Tarbotton Contractors and Harmer Earthmoving which helped with the clean-up.
