Combine fires

A year ago in wheat harvest. JD 8820, shield on right side of feederhouse dropped onto shoe auger slip clutch, sheared the cotter key off, spun the nut off the end of the shaft. Hot parts dropped into stubble and lit it. No burning on the combine. Tried to cut around the fire to contain it (while calling fire dept) but the shoe augers were filling fast as they weren't turning. Got machine out of field, fire dept arrived and knocked down fire quickly. It was quite windy that day and there was wheat downwind on two sides of us.
Dug shoe augers clear, replaced nut and cotter key, was cutting an hour after the fire was out. only lost a 1/4 acre of wheat.
 
Had a chopper bearing go out on the 9500. A little scary to look back and happen to see it spreading chopped stubble that's lit. It was a calm day and the rural FD had it out in no time. Only lost a little bit of a small field. No damage to the machine other than the bearing and a belt. I lost much more the day dad hit the unloading switch rather than the auger swing switch and angered when all the way across the headlands to the truck. Ugh.
 
had the same thing happen on a 300 massey,about 15 yrs ago . local fire dept 6 miles away came in 10 minutes...one guy and a kid with a mini pumper on a 65 Ford pikup . burned a hundred ft circle , mostly what was harvested . lost 20 ears of corn,..///my brother lost a 510 mf gasser , fully loded with beans , no idea what caused the fire , it literally was engulfed in a minutes time , ,, my renter losrt a 6620 deere and a full load of beans ,. nearly as fast ,.he had trouble with the latch on the door . and was about to kik out the windshield.,.. //back in hi school days dad had a 203 ihc ,that thing caught fire ahalf dozen times one fall, it got so bad . my brother ran it and i rode on the back with a garden sprayer of water watching for fire , the bean dust was really flammable that yr.. about 1972
 
Better question might be how many years have you not had a combine fire?! Last year was our first in a long time. Luckily most of them we could put out fairly quick and easy. Couple years ago had a self proclaimed professional wiring man (he?s family) wire in a new 2 way radio. Not enough cable ties and wires started rubbing against the separator drive. This year a shaft retainer came loose and let a chain and sprocket rub it a poly housing that was full of chaff. We always joke about letting it go up in flames but somehow human nature kicks in and we get it put out. Only two that I can remember being a total loss
 
Every year for past several years on our 1688. Bean dust build up. Still haven't been able to find any loose spark. As another poster mentioned, everyone rushes to say next time just let it burn but human nature always kicks in turning everyone into fire fighter mode. Keep many full jugs and buckets of water on top of combine. Worst is when the fire "drips" down to the stubble and trails the other direction.
 
lost a 1680 when it thru #5 rod out the side of the block and took out the fuel filters, then before the fire dept got there and a mile back in the field the full fuel tank went and total loss.
 
I?m thinking of putting a 100 gallon water tank on the back of my 7700 behind the grain tank to hopefully put out any fire that might start
 
We had a bad fire several years ago. Fan hub bearing in contractors Case IH combine let go spreading white hot bearings over several hundred yards in ripe wheat crop before operator heard alarms go off. We fought and contained fire for an hour on hot day, then wind got up just as neighbours and fire brigade arrived from 30 miles away. Fire got into neighbours unharvested wheat and burnt about 160 acres. I thought for a while we would burn the district out.

Then a couple of other neighbours arrived with graders, circled the fire and had it out in minutes. Our small water based fire fighting units were useless on a hot day with a wind. I am forever in the debt of our grader driving neighbours!

Contractors insurance company settled with burnt out neighbour. Contractors combine was virtually undamaged.
 
During the wheat harvest days combine fires were part of the game. We didn't have a fire on a regular basis but a fire did come along once in awhile. We always carried water fire extinguishers and dirt shovels and the crew was instructed on what do if there was a fire so we never lost a combine. One advantage we did have was we had plenty of young ambitious men who came swarming toward the combine making the smoke ready to do battle. The most damage we had was a few belts and hoses on one machine.

A few years ago a neighbor's combine's straw chopper started a bean stubble fire that jumped a road on a windy day and went nearly a mile across corn fields before it was stopped. It was a bad day for several farmers.
 
We lost a 4400 Gas Burner to fire. Bearing on the primary countershaft. We were able to set the grain table off and luckily we were at the home farm and the 3020 was already hooked to the disk for fall tillage. Lost the combine but didn't loose any crop. All that was lost crop wise was a half full grain tank. I wonder if a farmer could be held accountable if a combine fire got out of control and burned others property?
 

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