Grain bin fire at Midwest Grain and Barge, second this month

For the second time in two weeks, local fire departments responded to 179 Rushing Road for a working fire in a bin at Midwest Grain and Barge in Scott City.

The fire was first dispatched at 4:43 p.m. Tuesday, according to Scott City fire chief Trent August, and no one was injured in the fire.

August said the deputy chief arrived on the scene first to find a working fire inside of Bin No. 2, and smoke and flames were showing from its top vents.

A property manager leans against a railing as local fire departments contain a working fire inside a bin Tuesday at Midwest Grain and Barge in Scott City. No one was injured in the incident, Scott City fire chief Trent August said.Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian

Responders with the Scott City Fire Department and mutual aid responders from the Cape Girardeau Fire Department and NBC Fire Protection District contained the situation in about an hour and a half.

Firefighters used a Cape Girardeau ladder truck to fight the fire, and the blaze was contained from spreading to other equipment at the location.

Much of the bin was empty, according to the chief, and said the only significant amount of product being stored in the affected bin was contained in the bin’s hopper.

Scott City firefighter Braden Brown drains water from a line after working to contain a fire Tuesday at Midwest Grain and Barge in Scott City.Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian

August said workers at Midwest Grain and Barge have been taking down the bin in which the fire occurred, but did not say whether it was being worked on when the fire took place.

A property owner at the scene declined to comment on the incident.

“Honestly, it was pretty cut and dry,” August said about the incident. “It just took awhile.”