Initial call for possible gas smell transitions to nearby corn dryer fire ...
The Waukon Fire Department had an initial call for a possible natural gas smell at one location turn into an actual fire call at an adjacent location around midday Friday, December 6. An initial 9-1-1 call dispatched the department volunteers to the intersection of Ninth Street and West Main Street for what was thought to be a natural gas smell. After being unable to pinpoint the source of the smell that would come and go, fire officials on their way back to the station instead noticed smoke and flames coming from a grain bin dryer at the Waukon Feed Ranch mill location along Ninth Street SW. Waukon Feed Ranch General Manager Brad Herman said the 2,000-bushel dryer full of corn had somehow caught fire, with the cause of the fire yet undetermined and still under investigation. Herman said maintenance and cleaning had just been conducted on that same dryer four hours prior to the fire.
Herman said the tower dryer is designed with an emergency release system that allowed the burning corn inside to be released in a controlled fashion so it could be extinguished and removed from the immediate release area by skidloader (such as pictured in the photo below). He said the 2,000 bushels of corn from the dryer bin are no longer marketable but may be salvageable for feed lot usage, with insurance officials still working to determine the total amount of loss. Herman said the dryer bin will no longer be in service for the remainder of this current grain drying season and will be thoroughly assessed, cleaned and maintained prior to any possible future usage. Herman said he was glad there were no injuries and that it was fortunate the fire happened during the day when people were around to notice rather than overnight, which could have made for a much worse scenario. Black Hills Energy officials who had also responded to the initial natural gas smell call said the smell that first initiated the call may very well have been the smell of the burning corn in the dryer bin. Standard photos by Joe Moses.
