(Worthington, Mn.)– Area farmers are being urged to take some extra precautions to prevent fires with the harvest kicking into high gear. Liz Stahl of the University of Minnesota Extension Service in Worthington says the potential field and combine fires is increasing greatly as the region is slipping back into drought or near drought conditions…
“We haven’t had red flag warning days when we’ve really been going with harvest yet but we certainly could especially now that we’ve moved into that abnormally dry to even moderate drought conditions again right now. So a big thing, just make sure you’re cleaning off any residue, plants, stalks. Soybeans are really dusty. If that builds up that’s all just fuel for a fire. So watch anything. If you’re getting equipment that’s getting worn down like bearings, anything that could create or spark and you’ve got it near chaff or dust, that’s just again a bad combination if you get a combine fire there. So again, clean things off especially if you’re going to park in for the night. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard from people that have talked about this, that they’ve caught something smoldering in their shed. I mean so then it’s not just your combine and everything, it’s whatever you’ve got in the shed, too. So again, just really be, take the time to watch that.”
She offers some additional advice…
“Make sure you’ve got at least two fire extinguishers on the combine and your tractors. Have on in the cab with you so in case there’s a fire you can get out. Also make sure you have on that’s accessible from the ground. Always recommend too, not that you want to drop this, either, but have that cell phone with you at all times too just in case you’ve got to call for help. If you phone’s sitting in the cab you can’t get into it and you’ve got a fire, that doesn’t help you out. So again, you don’t want to lose that in the field but have that with you at all times. And if we do hit one of those red flag fire warning days, if you can avoid harvesting during the peak times for that, that’s great. If you can’t, a lot of people can’t, again just be very cautious. Make sure everything’s cleaned. Also have some tillage equipment. Have a tractor hooked up with tillage equipment just in case you’ve got to make a fire break.”
Stahl says in some extreme cases, just a spark or hot muffler can set off a field fire.
