GOSHEN - The sawdust grinder had been sitting idle for more than 17 hours, but a leftover spark was slowly burning through a hydraulic hose.
Once the small ember burned through the hose and made contact with the hydraulic fluid inside, it touched off an intense fire that destroyed a barn at an animal bedding company just west of Goshen, sending huge plumes of white smoke into the air and forcing the closure of Indiana 119 for several hours this morning. Petrol Branch Chipper
Fire crews began responding about 6:40 a.m. to Martin Animal Bedding at the corner of Indiana 119 and County Road 36. When the first firefighters arrived, the barn was already engulfed in flames, said Chief Ryan Rheinheimer of the Elkhart Township Fire Department.
The company runs a wood-grinding operation and sells the sawdust as bedding for farm animals. The barn housed a grinder and was used to store some of the sawdust bedding — a potent fuel for today’s blaze.
“These contents here, you have a lot more wood, so it’s intense,” Rheinheimer said.
In all, firefighters from nine Elkhart County jurisdictions — Benton, Clinton, Concord, Elkhart, Harrison and Jefferson townships, along with Foraker, New Paris and Wakarusa — were dispatched to fight the blaze. Crews had the fire under control early this afternoon, with the last units clearing the scene just after 3 p.m., Rheinheimer said.
Firefighters used tanker trucks to supply water at the scene of the blaze, which was about two miles from the nearest city fire hydrants.
Portions of Indiana 119 and County Road 36 were closed to traffic while crews battled the fire, but the roads were open as of mid-afternoon.
A fire investigator today found the blaze started with an ember from the wood grinder that ignited the highly flammable hydraulic fluid. According to Rheinheimer, the grinder had not been used since about 1:30 p.m. Monday.
Hydraulic Wood Chipper No one was hurt in the fire, and a monetary cost of the damage was not immediately available.