No one was injured following a grain dryer fire in the R.M. of Rhett Springs (Facebook/Melfort Fie & Rescue).

By Aaron Schulze

Grain Dryer Fire

‘They don’t happen often’: grain dryer fire in R.M. of Flett’s Springs

Dec 11, 2019 | 12:22 PM

It was an early morning in extreme cold temperature for the Melfort Fire Department.

A grain dryer in the R.M. of Flett’s Springs caught fire early this morning. No injuries were sustained and some of the farmer’s wheat was salvaged.

“Dryers aren’t designed for people to enter into for the purposes of work or firefighting,” Melfort Fire Chief Jason Everitt said. “Our target is to try and get the grain out of the dryer as soon as possible and on to the gravel where it can be managed. As a last result, [we cut] several holes in the dryer itself on both sides to physically drain the burning grain that way, get it on to the ground where it can be safely moved away from the dryer and then allow it to cool.”

The cause of the dryer fire is unknown, although Everitt said it was accidental. Saying there are numerous potential causes such as natural gas, heat being applied, moving grain through the dryer, or a technical malfunction that could ignite a fire.

“They don’t happen often given the number of dryers that are actually in operation out there,” he said. “I think they’re fairly safe pieces of equipment, but every so often there are mechanical failures that could lead to what we had this morning. Preventative maintenance is probably the number one prevention that anybody could take, but that goes with every piece of equipment.

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“The owners are very diligent they maintain their equipment; their livelihoods depend on it.”

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow