Fire destroys Bayard elevator

Fire destroyed a grain elevator in western Iowa’s Guthrie County on Sunday afternoon. It was the older of two elevators in Bayard operated by Farmer’s Cooperative which caught fire. Crews were called to the scene around 2:35. Bill Patrick is Bayard’s fire chief. “By the time we got on scene it was engulfed, so it had been burning for awhile inside before anyone noticed it.” The facility had been filled to capacity with soybeans earlier in the week, which added fuel to the fire. Chief Patrick says the cause is unknown, but speculated it could have been started by power lines being blown together during the weekend’s heavy winds. No injuries were reported. Patrick says at least 10 other communities sent fire crews, many of which had to bring water to the scene. Patrick says “Our city pumps can only pump so much water to supply the residents, so with a deal like this, using so much water we have to depend on neighboring towns to bring water in.” He says the structure and age of the elevator meant firefighters had little chance to save it.Patrick says “This is an old grainery, made out of cottonwood two-by-fours, so it’s an all wood structure with 16 bins inside made out of cottonwood two-by-fours and covered with steel on the outside, so it got pleanty of fuel plus 100 thousand bushels of soybeans.”