On Aug. 5, an agricultural fire was reported just outside Shelburne, while earlier in the week a combine harvester caught fire near the Grand River Raceway outside Elora.

Why it matters: Though agricultural fires are not a new phenomenon, prolonged drought conditions on a more consistent basis are increasing their frequency.

Jeff McArthur, director of emergency services and fire chief of the Southwold, Dutton Dunwich and West Elgin Fire Departments, says this year his team has had to respond to several fires this year, adding that conditions are becoming drier.

He notes that wheat stubble and field fires are often caused by overheated equipment bearings or hot vehicle exhaust from pickup trucks.

McArthur adds that rural departments like his have outfitted their teams with the necessary equipment to quickly extinguish these types of fires.

“Several fire departments, including Southwold, have apparatus (fire trucks) that can pump water from a bumper-mounted monitor/nozzle while driving at low speeds to efficiently contain and extinguish field fires. Fire hoses and water extinguishers are also used,” he said.

He advises farmers that there are steps that can be taken to mitigate the risk of a fire occurring, including making sure that equipment is properly maintained.

“Avoid driving pickups and passenger vehicles in the field. Have fire extinguishers on all equipment, and have all family members and employees trained on their use,” he said, adding that some farmers may want to consider having water wagons or trucks at the ready during harvest time.

He adds that having tillage equipment ready can also reduce the spread of fire. Tillage equipment can help establish a perimeter in the event of a fire.

Logistics knowledge is also key to prevent the spread of fire. McArthur notes that understanding a field location and access when calling emergency services can help reduce response times.

“We encourage each farmer’s field, even vacant farmland, to have a 911 address,” he said, recommending farmers use the website www.farm911.ca. This program, known as Farm 911: The Emily Project, was developed to improve emergency services in our rural communities by ensuring landowners can request a civic address from their municipality for entrances to their vacant farm fields.

Additionally, he said using the What3words tool can help emergency services locate fields and people in the event of an emergency. What3words gives a location based on three words that someone else can easily put into the app and find the same location.

These practices may be contributing to fewer fires in some regions. Chad Brown, fire chief of Prince Edward County Fire and Rescue in Picton, said this year there has only been one call for a crop fire and none the three years prior.

Brown adds that the department recently experienced an incident with a local wheat fire that burned with significant heat and spread very fast in the slight afternoon winds.

“This fire was more intense than a typical grass fire,” he said.

Brown agrees that the most common causes of agricultural fires are equipment failure and overheated bearings and drive belts. He adds that open-air burning also contributes to fields burning.

Brown believes that most farmers are aware of the risks associated with agricultural fires and are doing their best to mitigate them.

He adds that there are no specific trends emerging related to agricultural fires and instead points to the ongoing drought conditions as the main contributing risk at this time.

“Drought is always a risk factor to consider, especially with the extreme heat days that we are experiencing. I might suggest that the extreme dry conditions do promote the fire growth and spread,” Brown said.

How to prevent agricultural fires

• Monitor moisture before baling
• Check bale temperatures regularly using a probe thermometer
• Keep fire extinguishers on field equipment
• Avoid baling in extreme heat or windy conditions
• Keep equipment well-maintained and watch for hot spots
• Salt does not prevent spontaneous combustion
• Do not move or open up hot bales as they may ignite

Source: Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs

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Those fires — often involving combines and balers — are common and costly as equipment costs rise.

Letting farmers know when equipment parts are in danger of heating or failing is the focus of a startup company based in Canada and the United States.

Why it matters: There’s more interest in managing fire risk in expensive equipment, including from insurance companies.

Chariot Command provides heat-measuring cameras that can be moved to places on equipment and on the farm where there’s interest in measuring heat.

On combines, that can include the engine and chopper bearings, the places with the most risk on the machine.

“We have a sensor system, which is a thermal and regular camera, so we use that information with our software to help determine what’s going on and provide an alert to you, the operator,” says Andrew Leaman, co-founder and CEO of Chariot Command.

Farmers can target certain areas of the machine for extra observation, says Leaman.

He was at numerous agriculture technology events this winter and spring.

Leaman says that they’re still a startup company and want to keep learning from farmer knowledge, including other areas where the cameras could be useful.

That means farmers could move the cameras off the combines after harvest season and use them on grain bins or other equipment where heat is an issue and could be measured. Monitoring precision equipment to make sure it’s doing its job is another option, he says.

“We put cameras into dirty and dangerous environments to protect those machines from fires or maintenance issues,” he said at the Ottawa Valley Farm Show, where cameras show the infrared signature of people passing by the Chariot Command display.

Chariot Command started out automating tractors, but has morphed into a company that helps farmers manage risk on their expensive machines.

To start with that’s combines, but also balers, another common mechanical fire hazard for farmers.

Balers, like combines, work in dry conditions, with dry materials going through the machine. That raises the risk of a point of heat igniting the machine, such as with a hot bearing that breaks and drops into dry organic material.

The system uses a thermal and regular camera to monitor different temperatures and what is going on visually, and regions of interest can be monitored. Then a report can be generated that shows how a bearing, or hot spot is behaving so that preventative maintenance can be done so that it doesn’t escalate to a fire.

Leaman says the company is still figuring out its product. The first models have been 3D printed. They sell kits, with a sensor, sensor computer and a dashboard for the cab for $3,500. Each extra sensor is $2,500.

For class six to eight combines, a sensor is recommended for each chopper bearing and the engine. The company will come and install the system for that price while they are in startup mode, says Leaman.

The future involves attaching the system to a telecommunications module, so alerts can be sent immediately.

“You don’t need a video, you need to know something is happening,” he says.

Detecting objects such as people or rodents around or in the machine that shouldn’t be there is also a next step.

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