Evansville grain fire does $850,000 in damage

EVANSVILLE, Wis. (WMTV) - Nearly twenty agencies responded to a Rock Co. grain dryer Wednesday evening to help put down the flames of a fire tearing through the 100-foot structure.

According to the Evansville Fire Dept., firefighters could see smoke pouring from the building, which is owned by Alcivia, when they arrived shortly around 5:20 p.m. They soon called for other fire departments to respond, including getting a ladder truck from Brodhead, because of the height of the dryer.

Trucks shuttled water to the scene, at 750 N. Cty. Hwy. M, because of a lack of fire hydrants in that part of Evansville and the fire department noted that a “heavy amount of water (was) used” to put down the blaze. Firefighters doused the grain dryer with master streams of the trucked-in water, while the ladder truck rained down even more from above.

While those firefighters worked to get the fire under control, more emergency responders emptied the grain dryer, a process they had to do manually. Alcivia workers loaded all that burned corn onto skid loaders to haul it away.

Firefighters were able to wrap up their efforts around 9:15 p.m., about four hours after first arriving. Evansville firefighters offered their thanks to the other fire departments, who lent a hand, saying “your assistance was very much appreciated very much.”

Investigators estimate the fire did approximately $800,000 in damage to the grain dryer and ruined about $50,000 worth of corn.

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