LEIGH -- Workers were busy this morning emptying a 350,000-bushel grain storage building in Leigh after area firefighters spent about five hours battling a blaze that began around 11 p.m. Tuesday in the corn-stuffed facility.
“The corn inside the building caught fire, the reason why, we have no idea at this time,’’ said Mel Baumert, location manager for Cooperative Supply. The business has grain facilities in Leigh, Richland, Howells and Dodge.
An estimate of damage to the block-long, flat storage building and the corn stored inside was unavailable this morning.
“There was some heat damage to the building, and we’ll see how much corn we can save,’’ Baumert said. “That’s about all I can tell at this time.”
The cooperative’s workers were spending today emptying the building and cleaning up the grain that spilled into the street one block west of Leigh’s main street.
“It won’t be cleaned up today,’’ said Baumert, adding he was unable to provide a clearer estimate of when the cleanup would be complete.
The first report of a fire at the grain storage building was about 11 p.m. The Columbus Fire Department received a call for mutual aid about 1 a.m.
“We took a ladder truck, and an operator and I went,’’ Fire Chief Dean Hefti said this morning. Firefighters already on the scene needed to cut holes in the building roof and couldn’t get on the roof because of safety, he said.
Firefighters ended up cutting holes in the side of the building and allowing the grain to spill out on the ground, Hefti said. Water was used to seal the fire inside the corn, with firefighters then searching for hot spots, he said.
“They then tore the pile apart like a bale of hay and soaked down the hot chunks with water,’’ Hefti said. The Columbus firefighters left the scene about 4 a.m.
Leigh firefighters could not be reached for comment this morning.
Print This Story
Email This Story
