A city official said a fire that broke out in a grain elevator in Warren, Minn., on Wednesday morning was largely contained by the afternoon. CHS, a Minnesota-based ag co-op, owns the elevator, which is located in the northwest part of the state. The elevator is a facility where regional farmers store and sell crops.
Now, while the fire’s damage remains to be seen, some farmers remain on the lookout for possible consequences.
For years, Dave Gerry, who farms in the Euclid area, sold his crops through the Warren grain elevator. Now, though, he said the Warren elevator's storage capacity will likely be reduced. So, he may have to switch elevators for this year's harvest.
“But it's inconvenient,” Gerry said. “It's going to be further miles traveled to haul your commodities to one of these other facilities within their network."
More miles traveled to drop off crops will mean more money spent on gas. On top of that, he worried about incurring additional freight charges, as other elevators may be farther from the port from which he exports his crops.
Gerry also said that a lot of last year’s harvest is being sold now, as some markets have seen price bumps due to the war in Iran. This fire could disrupt some of that flow.
“Everybody's itching to get into the planting mode here, and that's why they're trying to move their commodities out now, so that when they get planting, they can just concentrate on planting and not have to worry about trying to move commodities to the market,” Gerry said. “Whatever they don't get moved now, they'll move out after planting, and then they'll get ready for harvest. So that's why I say it's a horrible time for this to happen.”
Gerry worried that if people sell last year’s crop later in the year, local elevators could be left with little room for this year’s crops. He himself is trying to sell off the rest of the hard red spring wheat he harvested last year.
Some of Gerry’s crop was in the Warren elevator, though he said it was already bought and paid for, so he won’t take a financial hit.
“It's a bad situation, but [CHS] will figure it out,” Gerry said. “And they'll keep us going.”
Officials from CHS said they're currently assessing the situation.
Other local effects
The Marshall County Sheriff’s Office is asking residents to stay away from the area because fire trucks are coming in and out of the elevator. The sheriff’s office temporarily closed off sections of Highway 75 near the elevator, but has since opened them.
The elevator is also close to several Warren schools. The Warren-Alvarado-Oslo school district has canceled classes and activities for the day to protect students’ safety and conserve water.
The City of Warren asked residents to limit their water usage to avoid straining the water supply for firefighters at the scene. City Administrator Brett Kuznia said neighboring towns provided their own water to support local firefighting efforts.
“The support of the local small communities is just incredible, the response you get from all surrounding communities to help,” Kuznia said. “Unfortunately, we see it more when there are things like this that happen.”
