Two small soybean fires were extinguished Tuesday and Wednesday at Express Grain Oil Mill on River Road Extended, said John Coleman, Express Grain president.
“We had a small fire — a small amount of beans in a small tank, that was overheating,” he said.
According to Coleman, employees noticed smoke coming from a grain bin Tuesday and notified the Greenwood Fire Department. The amount of soybeans in the fire was less than a truckload, he said.
Within the hour, the fire was extinguished, and Coleman said soybean fires are not troublesome to put out.
He said the fire was started by overheated soybeans. High moisture levels can cause soybeans to become hot enough to cause a fire.
“The next day we were working on getting the tank cleaned, but we didn’t get it all,” he said.
The grain bin was still smoldering, and this started another small fire around 9 p.m. Wednesday. The Fire Department responded and extinguished the second fire.
Coleman said to avoid beans with high levels of moisture, the company will dry them or spread out the soybeans in a big building to let them air dry.
“Mr. Coleman has been very helpful and is doing everything he can to get the wet soybeans out of there,” Fire Chief Marcus Banks said.
He also said this is not an usual situation, and the department is used to handling agriculture-related fires.
“Every city has its own unique geographical facilities or industries,” he said.
•Contact Lauren Randall at 581-7239 or lrandall@gwcommonwealth.com.
