On Tuesday, January 10, the wind was incredible with strong gusts. Well this was not without ill effect around the area.
At Sauder Feeds in Grabill it was noticed on the south end of the manufacturing campus the building housing the trucks was sparking where the power lines coming in to the facility with the winds whipping around. Flames began to shoot out from the corner of the structure.
Immediately 911 was called and the response from area fire departments responded. Great urgency is required when near a grain facility as the dust is highly explosive. Jerry Sauder—fourth generation family owner—shutdown the power to the rest of the mill to help isolate possible electrical files in the rest of the facility.
Fire Departments arrived on the scene quickly and were ready to put out the fire, but had one problem: power lines were still hooked up to the building and live. There was a loud ‘pop’ with on of the 3-phase legs blowing, but the rest was still active and dangerous for anyone to go near even if there was no winds.
The problem? The electric company did not show up for over an hour while the emergency workers stood around watching the building burn. Finally the workers showed up to disconnect the power lines and following that the gas company arrived to do the same to their lines.
Unfortunately by this time the building was pretty well destroyed along with all of the contents. In the night, the emergency workers got the fire under control.
Knowing what the problem was for the reason the fire could not be terminated quicker, Jerry Sauder brought up the idea that there should be changes in how electrical and other utilities could be safely handled directly by first responders. This could enable much quicker fire suppression, saving lives and possessions.
It was a stressful night for the family and workers but by the morning they realized how thankful they were for all the blessing God has given them with friends, family, workers and more. There was quite a bit of loss but it could have been much worse.
