LAPORTE, Ind. – Roughly 1,000 bushels of corn were lost when the kernels caught fire inside a grain dryer at a northern Indiana farm.

According to LaPorte County Police, smoke and flames were showing from a Nieco brand grain dryer when officers responded early on Oct. 28 to 800 South and 1150 West.

Owner Paul Herrold told officers he believed his batch of corn ignited from the timer failing to shut off the grain dryer, police said.

According to police, Herrold said he loaded the corn into the dryer about 7 p.m. and later received a call from a neighbor who smelled smoke in the area. Herrold saw the grain was on fire when he went out to check on it.

The corn was valued at $9,600. His biggest loss was the grain dryer, which he estimated to be worth $80,000, police said.

“Sometimes those fires just literally destroy the dryer because it’s so incredibly hot,” said Bill Field, a farm safety expert at Purdue University.

He said farmers should never try and put one out themselves because of the risk of severe burns. Field said the heat generated from burning corn is hot enough to evaporate water from a garden hose or extinguisher before it reaches the kernels.

Field said grain dryer fires should be addressed strictly by firefighters, who have the expertise, safety gear and higher water capacity hoses to do it more effectively and safer. “You need something to put a lot of water on it quick,” he said.

He said there have been at least two other grain dryer fires in the state during the current harvest season.

Field said he’s not sure why, but the possibilities include corn, after a dry summer, coming out of the fields in many places wetter than expected. Corn harvested with a high moisture content needs more drying before it can be properly stored. 

Field said some farmers could be turning up the temperature on their dryers to evaporate water from inside the kernels quicker to save on much higher fuel costs. Doing so, however, leaves corn susceptible to burning, like the edges of cookies baked in an oven with the temperature set too high, he said.

He said overheated corn begins to caramelize and eventually ignites if nothing is done to bring down the temperature.

Field said some farmers could also be placing too much corn into their dryers this season to reduce the number of loads and their energy costs. He said clumps can form in dryers exceeding their capacity and stop the conveyor in systems keeping the kernels moving through heaters as they’re being dried. 

Corn no longer moving in those types of dryers can also ignite from prolonged exposure to heat. Field said the first thing to do when corn has become too hot is shut down the dryer, turn off the fuel and call 911.

Field said the best option is for corn to dry in the fields, especially if good weather is in the forecast. However, he said a delay in harvest might not be an option for farmers under contract to deliver their grain to customers by a certain date.

Field added farmers taking short cuts on drying to save money on fuel can hurt themselves more financially in the long run. He said there’s the cost of replacing a grain dryer destroyed in a fire and the expense of having to take corn to an elevator to lower the moisture to a more desired level for storage.

“It’s devastating if you’re the farmer because it shuts you down if you got to dry grain,” he said.