Fifteen fire departments were called Monday to assist in trying to locate a fire burning inside a large grain bin at the Waltonville Gateway FS facility.
Salem Assistant Fire Chief Bill Fulton is part of the Marion County Grain Rescue team that coordinated the effort to extinguish the fire in the bin that stored 88,000 bushels of wheat.
Fulton says the problem apparently began on Friday when workers cut a new door in the bottom portion of the large grain bin and something went wrong and the work apparently started the smoldering fire. He reports workers at the facility knew they had a problem when arriving for work on Monday and could see evidence of a fire burning inside.
An initial effort was made to put water on the fire in the bottom of the bin. A hole was later cut in the top so firemen could see what was going on inside.
Fulton says with the use of a thermal imaging camera they then identified hot spots in the bin and cut two additional holes in the side to pull out grain from that area. An auger was then used to put the grain in trucks to be hauled away while other grain was dumped on the ground to be disposed of later.
Fulton says they never found an active fire.
Waltonville Firemen were first called at 9:30 Monday morning. All firefighters cleared the scene by seven pm. FS employees took over emptying out the elevator and planned to call firemen back if they discovered flames, but that never happened overnight.
Ashley, Benton, Centralia City, Coello, Christopher, Ewing Northern, Jefferson Fire, Kell, Mt. Vernon City, Odin, Sesser, Wayne City, Woodlawn, and the Valier Fire Departments were all called for mutual aid in addition to Salem Fire. The Jefferson and Franklin County Emergency Management Agencies and Red Cross also assisted at the scene.
Working to find the hot spots and possible fire in the grain elevator.
Salem Fire Department Grain Elevator Rescue team work to cut a hole in the side of the elevator to try and reach the smoldering fire inside.
