ALAMOSA — Alamosa and Monte Vista firefighters battled a hay fire for several hours on Sunday afternoon on the 101 and 10 South.

Alamosa Fire Department Assistant Chief Toni Bobicki said firefighters were on the scene of the fire from about 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on November 26. The fire began in a hay barn where the owner of the property Joe Valdez was working on the barn, and a spark set the haystacks on fire, according to Bobicki.

The metal building itself survived the fire, but the owner lost a great deal of hay. Fortunately, Valdez’s neighbor Grant Wiescamp provided a loader to tear the hay apart and move it so firefighters could put the fire out, Bobicki added.

“He had a good neighbor,” he said.

The Alamosa fire department also had a good neighbor in the Monte Vista fire department. Twelve members of the Monte Vista department brought three trucks over to assist the 15 Alamosa firefighters and their four trucks that were on scene.

“The guys from Monte Vista did a nice job, quick to get there and hard working,” Bobicki said. “We work really well together, and that’s nice to have that. We couldn’t thank those guys enough.”

The weather also cooperated, which was an added bonus especially given the fact it was the end of November.

The bad news was the significant loss of hay during the fire, which once it got started had quite a bit of fuel to burn.

“He lost quite a bit of hay,” Bobicki said.