WESTLOCK – An explosion that rattled windows in the Town of Westlock was likely connected to a fire that completely destroyed a large John Deere forage harvester northwest of town overnight Aug. 10-11.
The harvester, which was owned by Ray Marquette of Raydad Farms Custom Silaging, had been in use on land just northwest of the Town of Westlock, a mile north of Highway 18 and east of Range Road 270.
Marquette said his son had been silaging for Jubilee Feedlot until it was quitting time at 8:30 p.m. He parked it for the evening just east of the farmyard of Theresa Kallal.
Marquette said his son greased up the harvester while waiting for a ride home and then departed the scene at around 9:30 p.m.
The Pickardville fire department was called out to the fire just after midnight, though the blaze had likely been burning for some time.
“At the time we arrived on scene, (the harvester) was already 100 per cent destroyed by fire. There wasn’t much left,” said Westlock County fire chief.
Biro said he believed the Town of Westlock fire department had been first contacted because the fire produced an explosion that could be heard by town residents.
He suggested the explosion that people heard was likely the fire reaching the harvester’s accumulators, which are filled with nitrogen.
“That definitely wouldn’t have happened in the early stages. That would have been in the later stages of the fire,” Biro said.
While some suggested that the explosion might have been the tires popping, Biro said he had never heard of tires exploding to the point that it would shake windows several miles away.
Marquette said he first learned of the fire was when people called asking about what they had seen and read on Facebook, where people mistakenly identified the piece of farm equipment as a combine.
He said a fire investigator had been out to check over the burned-out machine. While the cause of the blaze is uncertain, Marquette said it wasn’t because of an overheated bearing and there was no suspicion of arson.
Meanwhile, Marquette said he was able to have another machine on site on Aug. 11, and work on silaging in that location had resumed.
• With files from George Blais
