Fire in the Corn Dryer!!

Nothing strikes fear in the heart of any homeowner like the threat of a house fire. On the morning of October 23, 1999 we came as close to this fear as we hope to ever come again. It all began with a call from the sheriff's office at 5:00 AM. A person driving by our place called in a report of smoke coming from the corn dryer just North of our property line. Our 911 rural address was turned in by this conscientious person.

We of course reported that this was adjacent to our property but was not our equipment. We gave them our neighbors name and then got up to inspect thi situation.

We could smell smoke in the house and when we looked towards the North we could see huge clouds of smoke rising from the dryer through the inky darkness. The equipment was shut down with the loss of power so the only light was from the searh light on the patrol car setting on Spruce Avenue. This added to our concern since we could not see clearly.

The fire department arrived by 5:30 AM and added light to scene, and it was at this point that we realized the true danger that lurked a couple hundred feet from our home.

We apologize for the clarity of this image. It was taken without the aid of flash and through two door windows. The smoke was so thick that we did not want to open any doors or windows for fear of getting more smoke into the house. Up to this point we had not seen any flames, the lights you aee are those of the emergency vehicles and the fire fighters flashlights.

We were told later that when the flames did appear it was due to the opening of an access dor to flood the dryer with water. The fire deppartment did not open it up until they had approximately 4000 gallons of water on hand. The image above is as close as we came to getting a picture of the actual flames. As daylight approached the two fire departments had the fire under control so I walked over to take pictures of the damage. I think the images speak for themselves, a total loss of a very large piece of equipment.

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