Sue Sitter/PCT Rugby firefighters and first responders set up a secure area around a grain dryer fire at the Rugby Farmers Elevator on Jan. 21.

Firefighters battled flames in a large grain dryer at the Rugby Farmers Elevator the afternoon of Jan. 21.

Derek Bush, chief for the Rugby Volunteer Fire Department, said the fire started when elevator workers “were drying soybeans.”

“It’s not a common deal, I guess, but it happens in dryers sometimes,” Bush said. “A fire started up in the columns and we ended up having to drain all the grain out of it to be able to get it out. We had to drain 4,500 bushels out. We were there about six hours by the time we got it all done.”

“There were about three or four columns involved,” Bush said of the fire. “It was all contained to the dryer. It wasn’t a serious deal. There was smoldering stuff in the columns. It was all contained to that. There were flames, but the fire didn’t leave the dryer.”

Bush said no one was injured in the incident.

“It was one of those deals where they had never had this big of a fire in their dryer. We had never dealt with (a fire this size). We had dealt with grain dryer fires, but never one this big. We had to sit back and look at it a little.”

Bush said the cold conditions and light snowfall that day complicated the fire fight “a little.”

“Every fire’s different, but we have as much training as we can have for this. We knew what to do and what had to be done just to get it done. We tried one thing and it didn’t work, so we tried a different way,” Bush added.

“It wasn’t going to spread past the dryer, so there was no other danger,” Bush said of the fire, adding the fire was contained only to the large dryer, which was made of metal.

Bush said fire fighters stayed on scene for six hours, “We got done there at about 10:30.”

Operations at the elevator were nearly back to normal the next day, according to Bush. “I was hauling grain there the next day and everything is good. They’re able to do business right now.”

David Holzwarth, manager for Rugby Farmers Elevator said of the fire, “We don’t know how much damage was done. I just turned in (a damage report) today. So, we don’t know anything yet.”

Holzwarth said while the fire-damaged dryer was out of commission, the elevator has smaller dryers that were not damaged. “It’s not harvest season,” Holzwarth said, “So we can handle what we get for drying.”