At 6:36 p.m. on Sunday, July 19, 2020, firefighters from the Aldie Fire Station were dispatched for a large outside fire in the 23,000 block of James Monroe Highway. When fire and rescue units arrived on scene, they found approximately 500 large hay bales on fire in a field. Additional resources to include apparatus and staffing were requested to include crews from Kirkpatrick Farms, Dulles South, Middleburg, Brambleton and Fairfax County.
As there is no domestic water supply in the area, firefighters used tankers to shuttle water to the incident site to keep the fire contained and worked through the night to extinguish the fire. Large tractors and farm equipment were brought to the scene to break up the hay bales and ensure all hot spots are extinguished.
Fire and rescue continues to work alongside local law enforcement and the Virginia Department of Transportation to mitigate traffic on James Monroe Highway as this fire is expected to smolder for an extended period of time. The cause of the fire cause remains under investigation.
