Man spreads fire with flaming hay

HART TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- A panicky man left a blazing trail behind him as he dashed around the countryside looking for a hose to put out his burning hay wagon, authorities said.

The man had trouble with the brakes on the hay-filled wagon being towed by his truck Thursday afternoon in Hart Township, about 190 miles northwest of Detroit.

The malfunctioning brakes apparently set the hay on fire, Hart fire chief Ken Klotz said. The man was unable to unhook the trailer as the fire grew.

"The whole thing was on fire -- the back of his pickup truck and the trailer," Klotz told the Ludington Daily News. "One guy saw him driving by and said he saw 30-foot flames coming out of the hay as he was going down the road."

Falling hay started numerous fires along the route, but the green grass prevented the fire from spreading.

The fires were extinguished, and the man was not cited.