He said it was about a 60 kilometre round trip and it took the crew "a fair while'' to get there and back.
By the time they arrived, the road workers had managed to put out the fire. They had a water tanker on site, Mr Watts said.
Mr Watts didn't know what caused the fire but suspected birds were to blame.
"I know from my own experience birds get into the tractor and can build a nest in the time that you've stopped for lunch.
"They can get under the bonnet and make their nest on top of the manifold and when the tractor starts, it can catch fire.''
"It can be a real trick for beginners.''
Mr Watts said most large pieces of machinery had sensors that could detect if there was a fire or something wasn't
working.
"A light will come on on the dashboard and it will tell you not to use it.''