(Wanatah, IN) - A farm combine being used in a field was destroyed by fire near Wanatah. Johnathan Rosenbaum, 23, was operating his father’s 2004 John Deere combine Saturday in a 30 acre field of soybeans at 1350 South and 900 West, according to La Porte County Police. Rosenbaum told investigators he did not realize the combine was on fire until the harvesting machine stopped about 7 p.m. and he saw the flames. He unsuccessfully tried putting out the fire with a portable extinguisher, police said.
Upon arrival, Deputy Tyler Oberholtzer said the combine, about 400 yards out in the field, was fully engulfed in flames reaching high enough to touch some overhead electric transmission lines. “Definitely a scary site that’s for sure,” said Rosenbaum, who was not injured.
Rosenbaum said there were no interruptions in electric service that he was aware of but the power lines were charred by the flames. “They were charcoaled. I was pretty impressed with how strong those lines are,” he said.
Todd Rosenbaum is the owner of the farm consisting of about 1,800 acres of soybeans and corn in La Porte, Porter and Starke counties. Mr. Rosenbaum said he doesn’t know what caused the fire but speculated a spark from a faulty bearing may have ignited the dust and stems from the soybeans being harvested by the machine. He said the soybeans being collected had a moisture content of less than nine-percent from a recent lack of rainfall. The desired moisture content of soybeans after drying is 13-percent.
“We don’t know actually what caused it but generally it’s a bearing that’s going out and that’s what ignites that bean dust,” Rosenbaum said. He and his son managed to bring in about 140 acres of soybeans over a two-day period before the fire, which he believes started in the engine compartment. “We were pushing pretty hard with the combine trying to get as much beans out as we could,” he said.
Despite the bad timing for losing a combine, Todd Rosenbaum said he’s not expecting any delays in his harvest. He’s working with his insurance company on replacing the combine and if one can’t be obtained quickly he’ll rent a machine to resume bringing in the crop.
