Two volunteer fire departments responded to Saturday’s fire at Milky Way Dairy, working through the night to keep a hay barn fire from spreading to surrounding structures and livestock.

This morning, what’s left of the structure continued to smolder.

Officials with the North Hidden Valley and Thunderbird fire districts said they were alerted to the fire around 5:20 p.m. by a worker at the dairy who also serves with the North Hidden Valley Fire Department. By the time crews arrived, the barn was fully engulfed in flames, fueled by thousands of tightly packed hay bales.

“There really wasn’t much we could do to stop the barn,” said Allen Alcott with the Thunderbird Fire District in a follow-up interview with InMaricopa. “Our focus was protecting everything around it.”

Crews quickly deployed fire trucks to each corner of the property to protect nearby assets. To the west and north were cattle pens and a silage pile, while the south housed another barn packed with hay. To the east, more hay bales and pecan shells used for feed were at risk from the fire. The inferno at the hay barn was so widespread, firefighters didn’t try to put it out, only stop it from spreading.

The plan worked. No livestock were lost in the fire, and neighboring structures were spared, a result Alcott credited to a combination of pre-planning, coordination with the dairy’s owner, and the presence of an on-site water system capable of filling a 5,000-gallon tender in just two minutes.

Still, the fire proved immense. The barn is believed to have contained more than 3,000 large-format hay bales, each roughly 4 feet by 4 feet by 8 feet in size. With so much dense, combustible material, fire officials say it will likely continue to smolder and produce smoke for several more days.

“We’ve had trucks on scene overnight,” the firefighter said. “The dairy has also kept personnel out there to monitor hotspots.”

The cause of the fire remains unknown. Any formal investigation would fall under the purview of the dairy’s insurance company rather than local fire authorities, said Alcott.

The Maricopa Fire and Medical Department responded initially but was released early in the incident once crews on scene determined their perimeter was under control. Only the North Hidden Valley and Thunderbird departments remained to carry out the containment effort. It’s something they’ve long planned for, said Alcott.

“We’ve talked through scenarios like this before with the dairy,” said Alcott. “So, we had a bit of a plan, and we made it work.”

Photos and video of the towering smoke plume quickly circulated on social media, with residents miles away snapping images of the dark column rising above the rural landscape.

While the worst appears to be over, officials warn that the public should not be alarmed if they continue to see smoke for several more days.

“It’s going to burn for a while,” according to the officials.

InMaricopa has contacted Milky Way Farms for more details and will continue the reporting when they respond.