- The Commission has already made a number of proposals to this effect.
The hay and straw harvest appears to be fire-prone this summer: The police reported on Thursday that three different locations in the Upper Palatinate and Upper Franconia had burning agricultural machinery. There were no injuries, but there was significant property damage.
In the first incident, an expensive round baler caught fire in the Upper Palatinate community of Hahnbach (district of Amberg-Sulzbach). As reported by the police station in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, a 38-year-old man from nearby Königstein was working with the machine on a field near the hamlet of Schalkenthan when the baler caught fire. The local fire departments extinguished the blaze, and the police estimated the property damage at 250,000 euros.
Similarly, in the Upper Palatinate, a square baler caught fire near Pilsach in the district of Neumarkt. In this case, the police station in Neumarkt also attributed the fire to a technical malfunction, estimating the damage at 50,000 euros. And in the third incident, a baler on a field in the Upper Franconian town of Harsdorf caught fire, where a farmer was trying to collect the straw from a previously harvested grain field. The police station in Stadtsteinach estimated the damage at 25,000 euros.
Bale presses for the hay and straw harvest in agriculture come in various forms, some producing round bales, others square ones - hence the term square baler. Agricultural machinery is typically expensive, with large balers costing six-figure sums.
The intense heat from the fire caused extensive damage to the round baler in Hahnbach, resulting in an estimated loss of 250,000 euros. Due to the fire, several expensive agricultural machines in different locations this summer have contributed to the higher-than-usual property damage resulting from fire-prone agricultural activities.
