A trailer loaded with hay ignited as it was being hauled in West Gardiner on Thursday, a blaze its owner chalked up possibly to a cigarette thrown from a passing vehicle.

Trooper Christopher Rogers, of the Maine State Police, said the hay fire in the trailer, being hauled on Route 126 by a tractor driven by Herbert Moreshead, 70, of West Gardiner, was reported about 4:15 p.m.

Rogers said Moreshead was able to get the tractor away from the trailer in time, and the trailer was a total loss. The West Gardiner Fire Department responded to put the fire out.

The cause of the fire is unknown, Rogers said. However, he said the owner at first thought his tractor kicked up sparks that ignited the hay, but he later thought it could have been a cigarette from a passerby.