Spontaneous combustion ignited a silo fire Monday at the farm of Dale Brecher, on 151 Street near Cazenovia.
“Usually it’s spontaneous combustion,” said Mark Otter, Pipestone Fire Chief. “The silage heats up and starts a fire.”
Spontaneous combustion is the self-ignition of combustible materials, in this case silage, through chemical action, such as oxidization.
The Pipestone Fire Department responded to the fire at 8:30 a.m. and the Jasper, Edgerton, Holland and Woodstock Fire Departments provided mutual aid.
“We dumped between 250,000 and 300,000 gallons of water on it, I’d guess,” Otter said.
The silo had not been used for about four to five years because the unloader had broken and it was about two thirds full at the time of the fire. None of the silage was salvageable.
When the fire crews left at about 4 p.m., Otter said the silo was still steaming.
“I don’t know a silo you can put out,” he said. “You can just slow it down. The things will smolder for years.”
The silo is attached to a barn on the property, but Otter said he thought it was sufficiently extinguished to protect the barn. Otter said no one was injured due to the fire.
