Home»MARYLAND FIRE DEPT. INCIDENTS»CECIL Co. Fire Dept.»1-Alarm + Tanker Strike Team 155 Mt. Ararat Farm Rd. 8-26-18

On Sunday, August 25th around 0930 hours Fire Box 7-02 was dispatched for a fire in a silo on the farm on Mount Ararat Farm Road in Port Deposit when an employee of the farm noticed smoke coming from the top of a silo. When units arrived on location they observed fire and heavy black smoke coming from the top of one of the silos on the farm. The silo was 70’ tall and about 80% full of animal feed. Deputy Chief Andrew Bannon from the Water Witch Fire Company arrived on the scene and took command. Truck 72 took a position at the silo as the other units set up portable tanks for water supply operations. Command then requested a tanker task force of four additional tankers.
After a few attempts to douse the fire with the ladder pipe it was suggested to call for Tower 57 from the Quarryville Fire Company in Lancaster Co. PA. due to their expertise in fighting silo fires. Tower 57 had been out of service and they were using Truck 43 from the Gordonville Fire and EMS Co. which is an identical tower. Truck 43 responded to the scene and set up for operations replacing Truck 72 at the base of the silo. The tower was able to reach the upload chute and doors of the silo where they utilized a special silo nozzle to extinguish the fire. It took about two hours to completely extinguish the fire. There was no extension into the silage in the silo.
About 25 firefighters were on the scene from the Water Witch Volunteer Fire Co., Community Fire Co. of Perryville, Rising Sun Volunteer Fire Co., and North East Fire Co. from Cecil Co. as well as the Quarryville Fire Dept., Robert Fulton Volunteer Fire Co. and Union Fire Co. of Oxford from Lancaster Co., PA.
The cause of the fire was likely static electricity that ignited some dry hay in the chute that fills and empties the structure. The fire caused about $5,000 damage to the silo including the doors and silo blower, and $5,000 in damage to the silage inside. Firefighters were able to salvage most of the animal feed.