Westmoreland County barn fire still smoldering days later

HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) — An equestrian-barn fire that happened Saturday in Hempfield Township is still smoldering on Thursday.

People who live near the storage barn near the Westmoreland Equestrian Center want to know when the smoke will stop.

Fire crews were back at the site of the fire on Thursday with foam making, perhaps, the biggest dent yet in extinguishing the fire and smoldering smoke.

In actuality, firefighters have been at the barn fire scene every day since the fire. Three hundred tightly bound bales of hay, plus everything else that was once stored where a barn once stood, can smolder for days. Still, it has nearby residents more than angry.

"I'm a grandma of children that live right here in the Fox Ridge neighborhood," Joanne Hines said. "They can't go outside, they can't play ball, they can't go to the public elementary school which is right up the road. It's been too long. We've complained to everybody. Nobody seems to care."

Besides fire crews, the Environmental Protection Agency and insurance company reps were at the site on Thursday.

Traci Miller, an area resident told KDKA-TV, "I feel bad that he has the devastation of his business, but we were suffering and losing some of our heathiness."

So, what are the last-ditch efforts or what else could they possibly do? Number one, cover everything with dirt. Number two, dig a hole and put the smoldering hay inside that hole.