Jul 30, 2007 3:32 pm US/Pacific
Tons Of Grain Drained After Silo Fire In Petaluma
PETALUMA (BCN) ―
Petaluma firefighters were at the scene of a fire smoldering inside a grain silo.
Battalion Chief Mike Haberski said employees at the Dairyman's Feed & Supply Co-Op are removing grain from six silo's adjacent to the one filled with 80 tons of smoldering grain that is used to make canola oil. Removing the grain will prevent the fire from spreading to other silos and that task should take about 20 hours, Haberski said.
The fire at the Dairyman's Feed & Supply Co-Op at 323 Washington St. was reported at 10:52 p.m. Sunday. Firefighters found heat and smoke coming from the eighth floor of a grain silo when they arrived.
Haberski said the fire apparently started when some of the grain began decomposing and gave off heat that ignited the grain. The grain then becomes sticky and makes it difficult to remove from the silo, Haberski said.
One of the adjacent silos is already "a little hot", Haberski said and firefighters have to come up with a plan to extinguish the fire in the silo.
Haberski said water won't extinguish the blaze and using foam will require also using water. The fire department may introduce a gas into the silo to exhaust the oxygen and put out the fire, Haberski said.
A silo fire is fairly common and there was one at the Dairyman's Feed and Supply Co-Op about eight years ago, Haberski said.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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