As they were starting their shift at 7:00 on a Monday morning, employees at a silo noticed a burnt smell and alerted the fire brigade. Localized combustion had occurred at the foot of an elevator (E2) and spread to the bottom of a second elevator (E1). The elevators had been used for 3 hours the previous Friday to fill two railway loading bins with rapeseed. The employees had not noticed any operating problems. The fire-fighters brought the accident under control after 2.5 hours. They then used a thermographic camera to look for potential hot spots in the two rapeseed transfer systems and the dust collection system. As a precaution, the loading bins were emptied to check for signs of combustion. The fire-fighters left at around 5:00 p.m. The flame-retardant strap on elevator E2 was cut, but the fire did not spread. Property damage was estimated at € 30,000; operating losses were €10,000 (a train scheduled for loading had to be cancelled). The accident was caused by the strap of the elevator rubbing against the wall. The operator is planning to reinforce the strap drift detection by fitting a detector at the foot of the elevator and is looking into fitting a temperature measurement system to detect a number of mechanical failures (e.g. defective bearings).