Andersons in Delphi experiences fire, grain bin collapse on same day
Sep. 20—A fire and an unrelated grain bin collapse at an Andersons grain elevator kept Delphi first responders busy on Monday.
Carroll County Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Fincher said the fire was reported around 6:40 a.m. A social media post from the Delphi Tri-Township Fire Department said the fire spanned across a large filter canister and its conveyors to an attached storage bin.
The Delphi Tri-Township Fire Department, Camden-Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Department, Flora Monroe Township Volunteer Fire Department, Rockfield Volunteer Fire Department, Burrows Liberty Township Volunteer Fire Department, Carroll County Emergency Medical Services, and Carroll County EMA responded to the fire.
"My part there was to support all the agencies that had responded in any way that we could," Fincher said.
He added that responders worked until at least 9:30 a.m. to put out the fire and clean the area. No Andersons employees or first responders suffered injuries from the blaze.
Later that same day, one of the facility's storage bins collapsed, releasing thousands of pounds of grain and crushing a company truck.
Fincher said first responders were called back to Andersons around 1:44 p.m. He estimated that they remained on the scene until around 3:30 p.m. to assess the situation and do what they could to ensure everyone's safety.
No one was injured when the grain bin collapsed. First responders shut off the electricity in that area so there was less risk of injury while they worked. However, there were other factors that made the situation dangerous.
"None of the grain in that was moved due to part of the metal being in a precarious place," Fincher said. He added that structural engineers will need to help with the cleanup process.
Fincher said the grain bin's collapse likely had nothing to do with the earlier fire because the two incidents occurred in separate areas of the facility. He said it was extremely fortunate that there were no injuries.
"Everybody's number one goal is the safety of personnel and to make sure that everybody is accounted for," he said. "Overall, I'm glad that everybody was safe. We were lucky that no one was hurt during this incident."
