This summer has been so hot and dry in upstate New York that the horse poop in Throop is bursting into flames.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation says one of its enforcement officers responded on July 5 to multiple calls complaining of smell and smoke coming from a burning pile of horse manure at a property in the town of Throop, in the Finger Lakes region 20 miles west of Syracuse.
The officer learned that the owners of a horse stable had been storing the manure in large piles that frequently spontaneously combusted in the excessive heat and dry conditions.
DEC officials say a shift in the prevailing winds carried the odor of burning manure it into the neighbors' windows.
It took three local fire departments two hours to douse the burning horse poop.
