Show Observation
User: Joe Simmons
Created on: 2022-07-28
Observation Date 2022-07-21
Comment:
2/3 of T2R2 was burned in an accidental (unintentional) fire. After the wheat was harvested as the straw was being baled from T2R2 a bearing on the baler started a fire in the baler which in turn started the wheat straw bale and stubble on fire in the T2R2 research plot.
Round balers have a lot of spinning parts, which require a lot of bearings to allow these spinning mechanisms to work. They rely on grease to stay lubricated, but occasionally the parts inside can break, deteriorate, or run out of grease, which can result in them getting hot due to metal friction. In this instance, one of the bearings failed and started the straw on fire inside the baler, which started “dripping” out and starting the remaining straw in the field on fire as well.
See attached photo's (Photo's by Kevin Kahmark) of the plot after the fire was put out.
The three spots on the right side of the plot that look like they did not burn was three round bales that had already been baled before the fire started. The round bales were spread-out by the fire department so that the bales would stop burning.
No injuries.
Baler was a complete loss.
No damage to the tractor. Tractor was disconnected from the baler before the fire could damage the tractor.
Areas:
T2R2
Observation Type:
Harvest
Observation
Burning
Activities:
Attachments:
