Farm owners suspect arson in haystack fire

A haystack on Dealwood Road in El Centro worth at least $35,000 caught on fire Tuesday morning.

This is the second haystack to catch fire this week.

California Highway Patrol officers said it started around 5:00 a.m.

“It was a stack of kleingrass we just put up yesterday afternoon,” said James Preece, from Preece Farms.

It is unknown how the fire started but the owners of the haystack suspect it was arson.

“Because we put our product up very dry without any moisture, we never have any problem with that. Like I say, it was barely in the stack for about eight hours, before it caught on fire,” asid Preece.

Preece Farms said the haystack that caught on fire is worth $35-45,000, and took about a month to grow. They are hoping insurance will cover the cost of the damage.

Saturday night a haystack located less than 2 miles away on Chick Road near Highway 111, also caught on fire.

“Yes I heard about it, I don’t know the details about it, I just know that the field is close to my field and it was the same product as this. It does seem a little odd,” said Preece.

We spoke to the owner of the haystack on Chick Road, Michael Abatti, he said he doesn’t want to speculate, but it is suspicious. Abatti said he’s leaving it up to the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office to investigate.

The Imperial County Fire Department said they are monitoring the haystack fire on Dealwood Road.

“We just continuously monitor, that it’s not gonna affect air quality in the area, that it’s not gonna obscure or be a problem for traffic on the interstate,” said Battalion Chief Juan Rodelo, Imperial County Fire Department.

Firefighters said the haystack is expected to keep burning throughout the next couple of days.