By Mike Anderson
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
GREENE, Iowa — Nine volunteer firefighters with the Greene Fire Department battled an inferno at a grain dryer for nearly five hours on Saturday morning.
“I’ve been around firefighting for over 30 years and this is one of the toughest fires I’ve ever seen in a grain structure,” said Butler County Emergency Management Coordinator Mitch Nordmeyer.
The call came into the Butler County Sheriff’s Office at about 3:30 a.m., and the flames weren’t extinguished until about 8 a.m., according to Nordmeyer.
“It was an extremely large grain dryer completely engulfed in flames,” he said.
By the time the fire department arrived, the structure had been burning long enough that the corn inside had condensed to hot coals.
“They actually had to cut it apart to get at the burning corn,” Nordmeyer said.
Using cutting torches and metal saws, the firefighters sawed holes into the metal enclosure so they could lay down streams of water into the blaze.
An ambulance stood by in case any of the emergency responders were hurt, which none were.
Also helping was the Marble Rock Fire Department, Alliant Energy and Black Hills Energy, according to the Greene Fire Department Facebook site. Greene firefighters also thanked those who brought hot chocolate and donuts for the cold firefighters.
“The things they came up with to do were really really good,” Nordmeyer said of the Greene Fire Department. “They did an amazing job. It was hard work.”
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(c)2014 Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (Waterloo, Iowa)
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