Sheriff’s office investigating haystack fires in two counties

Brush and wildfires are fairly common during the hot summer months. But recently, a few counties in Southeastern Idaho are seeing another type of fire – haystack fires.

For one haystack in American Falls, all that’s left is a few blackened bales. The haystack, located on Channel Road, burned down on July 4. Power County Sheriff Jim Jeffries said they don’t know what caused the fire, but it’s being investigated as suspicious.

Jeffries said one reason it’s suspicious is how it started. He said it started right next to the road, which is not common.

He said it’s also suspicious because this isn’t the only haystack to burn down. Bingham County has also reported two haystack fires in the last month. Jeffries said he suspects they may not be accidents.

“They’re suspicious fires and so I can’t say that it’s arson, but now we’ve had three of them in our region catch on fire, that’s unusual,” he said.

Jeffries said if it is arson, there’s a chance they could see more fires, especially because so many surrounding counties are heavily based on agriculture.

The sheriff’s office sent out an alert on the emergency notification system and posted on Facebook to ask for the public’s help in getting information.

Jeffries said he plans to work with Bingham and other counties to try and get more information and see if a possible profile can be developed. In the meantime, he encourages anyone who sees anything suspicious to report it. He does have a word of caution though.

“I’d like to emphasize that people not get involved or try to intervene, but if they could get a license number or a description, or just what it is about the person, or the vehicle that they’re in is suspicious and let us know,” Jeffries said.

Any information related to the investigation can be called in to the Power County Sheriff’s Office at 208-226-2311.