Fires hit three farms on the east coast

Field fires have broken out on three farms on the east coast in the past two weeks, authorities said.
Two of them occurred on the same day. Local fire departments responded to a combine fire in the 8100 block of Broad Neck Road in Chestertown at 1:50 p.m. on June 17. The combine was harvesting winter wheat and caught fire, which spread to the field. When firefighters arrived, according to the Chestertown Volunteer Fire Department.
The dry crop, including cut stubble and standing wheat, and a strong wind spread the fire quickly. A fire truck sucked water from a nearby pond to douse the flames, fire officials said. An estimated 20 acres of wheat stubble and 2 acres of unharvested wheat were burned. No one was injured.
Less than an hour later and about 40 miles south, local fire crews responded to a tractor fire in a field near the intersection of Matthewstown and Colby roads in Cordova at about 2:25 p.m. on June 17, according to the Easton Volunteer Fire Department. Fire department photos showed a tractor and a bale of hay engulfed in flames, sending a plume of pitch-black smoke into the air. Several local farmers helped prevent the fire from spreading in the field, fire officials said.
A third fire destroyed more than 100 acres of wheat along Old Wye Mills Road in Wye Mills near the Talbot-Queen Anne’s County border at 1:45 p.m. on June 8, according to the Easton Fire Department. Several nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution. Again, no one was injured.
For John Swaine III, vice president of the Talbot County Farm Bureau, the fire was no surprise.
“Unfortunately, that happens a lot in years like this,” he said. “Once the fire starts, it’s hard to put it out.”
Half a century ago, fires on farmland occurred almost weekly along the coast during planting and harvest seasons, the Chestertown Fire Department said in a statement. Since then, farming equipment has improved, making fires less common.
“Today we rarely see such a large, natural covering fire,” the department said.