The Sanborn Fire Department responded to corn burning inside a grain bin northeast of Sanborn on October 12.
The Department was paged to 3029 Starling Avenue at 1:20 p.m. for corn on fire inside a grain bin. When reaching the scene firefighters observed smoke coming from the dryer fan area and also from the roof vents. They talked with the owners on arrival and found out the bin was full of corn. It was an 18-foot round dryer bin with about 10,000 bushels of corn in it.
It was decided to cut holes in the sides on the bin to remove good corn and to get to the burning corn. Firefighters cut five holes and started moving corn. The Fire Department was on scene until 7:09 that night. They used 9,000 gallons of water and about 15 gallons of foam. A total of 12 firefighters were on scene or helped with clean up at the station. Sanborn Fire was back in service at 7:46 p.m.
On Saturday morning the owners wanted the Fire Department to come back out because there were some hot spots that had started flaring up. The Department went out with four firefighters. They cut more holes and tried to get more of the burnt and burning corn out but it wasn’t working. It was decided to get Raveling’s from Melvin with an excavator to open up the bin and allow better access to the burning corn. After the bin was removed the excavator was able to break up the burnt corn so firefighters could wet it down with more water and foam. They used another 6,000 gallons of water and 15 gallons of foam. The Fire Department was on scene from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. with five firefighters.