CALEB NICKERSON
CLARENDON Oct. 27, 2020
Emergency crews were called out to a property in Clarendon on the afternoon of Oct. 27 to respond to a fire in a corn dryer.
The Shawville Clarendon Fire Department got the call just after 2 p.m. and responded with . . .
several trucks to 140 Seventh Line.
“I guess it overheated, and the corn started burning,” explained Chief Lee Laframboise. “It’s a newer modern machine and I guess it’s got all these fancy … sensors and stuff and it wouldn’t let [the owner] dump it all out. He got about a ton, ton and a half off, and it shut down so he couldn’t do [anything]. [He] called us, so all we could do is really cool the whole machine and then open the hoppers and let all the corn out.”
Laframboise said that his firefighters were able to get water on the roasting kernels though hatches in the dryer, and also used bars to extract the scorched material.
“As soon as you let air in, there’s more flames,” he said. “[The owner] had the propane shut off and everything, so it was all safe. He had it shut off at the tank and shut off where the line goes in. It’s just that it’s time consuming to get all the burnt corn out of it, you know?”
Laframboise estimated that it was about four hours before their crews could return to the station.
