Fire Breaks Out at Scoular Co. Grain Elevator in Kansas

A fire broke out at a Scoular Company grain elevator in Wellington, KS on the afternoon of Nov. 4, several local media reports said.

Firefighters responded to a call from the facility at about 3:30 p.m., finding fire in the two grain bins at the site, CBS News affiliate KWCH reported. The Wellington Fire Department said flames were visible coming out of the top of the silo, the grain transfer machinery, as well as vents toward the top of the structure, news website Sumner Newscow said.

“The facility was closed, and no employees were on site at the time of the report of the fire,” the Omaha-based company said in a statement posted to its website. “We immediately dispatched and now have a cross-functional team on location managing the response to the issue.”

Crews worked for about four hours to put down the fire and remained on scene for a period after to monitor for re-igniting fires, Newscow reported. One 154-ft-tall grain bin impacted by the fire contained 430,000 bushels of wheat and the other held about 400,000 soybean bushels.

On Monday, Newscow reported that Scoular was bringing a salvage crew to the site to help remove smoldering grain.

“The grain will continue to smolder and cause and odor and visible smoke until the salvage operations are completed,” said Wellington Fire Chief Tim Hay in a statement. “There was always a chance of explosion during this incident but due to the silos being full of grain, the explosion chances were diminished.”

No injuries were reported during the incident. The company and officials are still working to determine the cause of the blaze.

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