Just wanted to let everyone know that I am doing kind of well. This past Tuesday (21OCT08) at 2AM I was awaken by my pager for a structure fire. The fire was at my parents place. I was there for 20 hours that day. I did not fare too well from it either and am still sort of recovering (hands/wrists mainly). All told, things could have been much worse.

A 30 foot diameter 12 ring tall grain bin almost full of corn (15,000 bushel) was on fire with flames reaching 30+ feet above the surrounding bins. Damage to grain and the bin itself total in excess of $250k replacement cost. Sadly, insurance coverage was not kept up to current steel prices.

Anyway, I am back now with somewhat diminished typing ability (hence my absence). There were quite a few cameras out during the incident so I am sure I can find some pics. At that moment, I was worried about a lot of other things. My parents were in Tennessee at the time.

Cause... A high level switch failed in the grain drier which kept the 10 million BTU burner going as the level of the corn reached too high in the top of the bin.

Sorry about the craziness Kyle. Glad to have you back and in one piece!

Sorry to hear that Kyle, glad you are not seriously hurt.

Sorry to hear that and hope every will come around for your parents! Glad to see know one was hurt!!

Gee Kyle sorry to hear of the tragedy, hope everything works outs, very nice to see you back here. Not for anything but do you have city water out there? I'm a Fire Sprinkler fitter L U #676, seems it would be a good place to install a sprinkler system in these dryer area(s), and would save mega $ on insurance, even though an install would be pricey too.

Welcome back Kyle, Glad to hear your ok and no one was hurt too badly, Its a good thing you were home to get that call, and realize where it was...Thanks for being the fireman you are...

Welcome back. I'm really sorry to hear ofyour loss. I'm grateful you are recovering. Take care of yourself.
Craig

It's the call you hate to get...but unfortunately working in the same area you live is always rough..that's why I don't work where my family lives. At least no one was hurt..

Glad that it was only property damaged... could be much worse.

Yea, sorry to hear the news Kyle. Good to have you back again. You've been missed, especially over on bf.net where it's been awfully quiet lately.

Thanks everyone! Well, I still am on a bit of reduced capacity as I can only type for a short while before my wrists and hands start to cramp up. I pulled something in all of the adrenaline fueled work that I was doing in the first 4-6 hours into the incident. I also had minor steam burns on the side of my face/neck and on one of my hands. Mostly irritation and swelling, but no real blistering to speak of.

My crew was working a few feet away from the side of the bin 20 some feet in the air on the platform where the 4 foot diameter burner fan was. When we first got up there, the side of the bin was 450*F. Not too long after we were working up there, cutting inspection holes with a K12 saw and trying anything we could to put water on the fire, the side of the bin showed 750*F on the infrared camera.[sm=yikesomg.gif] We should not have been up there, but it was the only way to stay ahead of the fire somehow until we could get the corn out.

Welcome back Kyle. Glad to hear you are ok.

Glad to have you back and doing OK.:)