At around 10:55 a.m., a fire broke out at the foot of an elevator at a grain terminal. The fire alarm went off shortly after the elevator was started up. Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire. They then checked to make sure that the fire had not spread to the grain suction and conveyance booms. A 70 m cordon was set up. The fire burnt the strap of the elevator along a height of 5 m, damaged three duct components, and destroyed electrical equipment (bottom belt drift detectors and cables, position detector cable, and the cable supplying the grain slide gate’s manifold).

The fire started on the brace just above the cleanout door on the foot of the elevator’s downward leg side. A hammer had been left in the conveyor by the maintenance crew that replaced the chain slides during the end-of-year holidays. While the conveyor was being tested at the end of the maintenance work, the hammer fell into the hopper above the grain slide gate and subsequently passed through the elevator without any problems occurring. Then, when the turning circuits were restarted, the hammer ripped off a bucket and jammed into the fall-breaker under the elevator’s head. Either the bucket or the hammer may have been thrown against the elevator’s bottom, generating the spark that lit the fire. The resulting flames may have been stoked by the bellows effect in the elevator’s downward leg.