Residents help fight fire

Using a fire extinguisher and a garden hose, Post Falls residents worked together to keep a blaze under control until firefighters arrived.

Rolls of hay on a flatbed trailer being towed by a pickup truck reportedly caught fire today on Hayden Avenue and Idaho Road. A tire or axel on the trailer broke and caused sparks. The driver reportedly pulled over to check but did not see the fire.

Cindy Matthews said she saw the flames from her window.

“They were too far to hear me, but incoming traffic started honking, so they pulled over again,” Matthews said in an email to The Press.

The truck stopped near a residence. By then, the flatbed trailer was engulfed in flames. Matthew said she called 911 as she rushed over with a fire extinguisher. The owner of the property where the truck stopped attempted to fight the fire with a garden hose.

Matthews and the property owner battled the blaze until fire crews arrived. Other residents also stepped in to help keep the fire from spreading.

All the hay bales had to be removed from the trailer to keep the fire from restarting.