Unusual Combine Fire...

" The Devils Lake (ND) Rural Fire Department responded to an unusual call on Thursday, Oct. 1 a few miles north of Devils Lake on Highway 20, on the Sweetwater Curves.

According to Rural Fire Chief Lee Gessner there had been an electrical fire in the John Deere combine the night before but the owner thought it had gone out so he loaded it on a flat bed trailer to transport it into Devils Lake for repairs.

High winds coupled with the act of transporting the equipment fanned the flames that evidently were not completely extinguished and the fire spread to consume the combine.

It was dragged off the highway and into the adjacent field west of the highway so firefighters could battle the blaze.

Traffic on the busy highway was halted for approximately 45 minutes as the fire was extinguished. The combine was a total loss."

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News article

The farmer saved himself a lot of aggravation. After a modern combine or tractor burns some of the wiring harness you may as well burn the whole thing to the ground as they will have troubles forever after that.

My sons bought a JD 9660 that had alight cab fire. I do mean light damage in that the glass was still intact. They replaced the whole cab with a used one and bought NEW wiring harnesses. That was three years ago. The first year they tried to use it they spent as many hours working on it as running it. Last year they started out fine but the ECM went out toward the end and the "new" one would not recognize the combine/engine when the JD mechanic tried to get it going. He worked on it for two whole days and had to replace some sensors to get it to work. The bill was right at 10K. When they found this combine I tried to talk them out of it. They gave half price for it compared to what a running/original one would have brought. They have close to that in this one without figuring anything for their labor.

Buy one that is wrecked or even damaged by a building falling on it but run from one that has burnt.

So that farmer was lucky that one finished burning. The market is a buyers one for used combines right now. He can take his insurance money and buy a good original one and have fewer long term headaches.

It looks like the fireman is going to "put it down" with an ak-47

The Jamestown Fire Dept has responded to nine fires since August 1st. Most of them caused by DUST .

My father-in-law has two combines that had rear engine fuel tank fires that they rebuilt. First is a 9660 they rebuilt several years ago. Rebuilt motor and replaced everything, harnesses, radiators, coolers, hydros ect. They have put several thousand hours on it with no fire related issues. Two years ago they bought a burned 100 hour 9670 for $10000 and put close too $80000 into rebuilding it. They used it for last years harvest and are using it for this falls harvest. They have had no issues with it either. I think they are crazy for doing all that work but they have two combines that work fine for half what they would have cost unburnt. Must be a lot of luck involved... I think they are going to own the machines till they are worn out tho as no one will pay much for them.

the embers lingered some 10 hours before coming back to life ,,.

I have always heard people say if the combine catches fire, and it's insured, let her burn. When the fire's out it's not worth fixing even if it's minor damage.

Al