(PHOTO BY JESSE DAVIS / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
BIG FIRE, LITTLE FIRE … The Pettisville Grain facility located on Providence Street, seen here, was the location of a minor dust explosion and small fire that was initially reported as a structure fire and grain bin explosion Wednesday evening.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
A fire at Pettisville Grain’s facility in Delta drew a large response from the Delta Community Fire Department on Wednesday when it was called in as a silo explosion.
According to Fire Chief Jeremy Gillen, a call came in just after 4:30 p.m. Wednesday reporting a grain bin explosion and structure fire at Pettisville Grain’s 600 Providence Street property.
Their initial response included an EMS with a life squad unit, a ladder truck, two engines, and a utility truck. A total of 14 responders including the chief attended the scene.
The only problem was, according to Gillen, that the caller was wrong on both counts.
“What happened was there was a small dust explosion resulting in a couple of access panels coming off one of the legs on the silos,” Gillen said.
“We were able to isolate the power to that area, and we found an overheated bearing up on top of the leg that was on fire, and we extinguished it with a fire extinguisher.”
He said they remained on scene for some time, checking different areas around and underneath equipment at the facility to make sure everything was resolved, and all responders were back in service by 6:20 p.m.
“We used the expertise from the guys that are operating the equipment to figure out what was going on. Basically, they were loading rail cars all day, which may have overheated some equipment up there,” Gillen said.
The offending equipment was located in a part of the facility system that moves grain back and forth, but not in any of the actual silos.
According to Gillen that explanation is preliminary, and as of Thursday he was still preparing to go meet with Pettisville Grain representatives to finalize the cause for the report.
Pettisville Grain was recently granted a zoning variance by Delta’s Zoning Board of Appeals to construct a new grain bin at the Providence Street facility with a 22-foot setback from the road instead of the normally required 50 feet.
The estimated $1.5 million project has begun to move forward, with temporary fencing going up around the property and some other signs of preparation visible at the site.