ROLLINGSTONE, Minn. – Hay stored in a metal Quonset hut up County Road 25 east of Rollingstone smoldered and burst into flames. Firefighters put out the stubborn blaze but not easily. The whole crop was lost. Tentatively the fire was blamed on internal combustion. It was the sixth fire in a hay shed in three weeks in Winona County.
Typical Quonset hut. This one large with closed ends.
Cost-effective storage
Many farmers use open-ended Quonset huts to store hay. The semi-cylindrical structures, made of corrugated galvanized steel, came into wide use in World War II as quickly assembled storage at a low cost with a long life. The name comes from Quonset Point in Rhode Island, where the U.S. Navy built the first ones. Earlier usage was for war-rime storage and barracks.