75,000 big sq bales burn in sw ks

[sw363535]

Cellulosic stockpile up in flames during high winds. Threaten town of Moscow ks.

[sw363535]

My phone can't spell.

[Shaggy98]

SW, my in laws sent my some pics of that fire. I didn't realize the town was in harms way.

[sw363535]

Town was on south side.  I think in the night when the wind died down they started getting conserned about a breeze from the north threatening a few homes.

High  southwest winds had the guys handcuffed, If they tried to move bales and isolate----- the wind would spread the fire.  It was spreading enough anyway------  30 ricks of 3000 bales and they lost 25 of them.   Mostly corn stubble residue.

[DKIL]

How did fire start?

[Shaggy98]

My guess would be lightning.

[Palouser]

Or spontaneous combustion from wet material.

[sw363535]

Palouser,

They have been setting there for months and we have had very little moisture.  I doubt the internal combustion.  It was dry corn fodder raked in winter from irrig corn the last two years.  The cellulostic ethanol plant is under construction in the same county.  They have been building inventory for a while.

Lightning is possible, we have had thunderstorms building the last three nights only to have strong southern winds blow them apart.

I haven't heard any report on cause.

It is one of the unforseen consequences of trying to inventory large amounts of fodder and it looks like a large inventory of dry bales will be always present.

[rayjenkins · Accepted solution]

several years ago a large US company visited us about a project requiring large amount of corn stover....one of the things we told them was that they should not try to centralize their storage for just the possibility of what transpired in KS.....when a year's worth of feedstock goes POOF, there goes the business plan!