DESPITE a much smaller crop in SA, it is important not to be complacent about the prospect of harvester fires, says agricultural engineer Ben White.
Mr White headed a series of GRDC workshops ahead of the harvest season, reminding graingrowers to remain cautious about the risks.
“There are a couple of things we don’t know about harvester fires and that includes the environmental and seasonal impacts,” he said.
He said 2016, a wet year, was a “terrible year” for harvester fires, suggesting a link, but even with this year’s drier weather there had already been fires reported.
An estimated 7 per cent of harvesters are involved in fires each year.
“Unfortunately, a low-yielding season doesn’t mean growers won’t see harvester fires, and the worst thing would be for growers to get complacent and put themselves in danger,” he said.
Mr White said some crops were more susceptible to sparking harvester fires than others.
“Growers need to be very careful, especially with pulses,” he said.
“These are more prone to harvester fires than cereals, so you can’t be too careful.”
Mr White said a nationwide survey of growers had collected information about how many people had experienced a harvester fire, what machines were involved and the cause of the fire.
“The quality of data from that survey was quite good and represented every state and every machine,” he said.
“As in the past three surveys, held since 2005, it showed dust and trash build up was the number one owner-nominated cause of harvester fires, followed closely by bearing failure.”
Mr White said the good thing about these two issues was they could be addressed.
He said the best method of preventing fires caused by dust and trash build-up was to keep the machine clean.
Dust and trash build up was the number one owner-nominated cause of harvester fires, followed closely by bearing failure.
- BEN WHITE
“Give the harvester a thorough and regular clean – start at the front and work back, and at the top and work down,” he said.
“There are plenty of tools out there to aid blow-down.”
He said bearing failure could be tricky to spot but vigilance was a key weapon.
Mr White said an infrared thermometer could be found at an automotive parts supplier.
“If a bearing is about to fail, the temperature will rise rapidly,” he said.
Mr White said the risky temperature could be hard to determine but the best technique was to regularly check bearing temperature and keep a log.
This would make it easier to identify if the temperature was spiking and then change the bearing before failure could occur.
“The potential losses from a fire are enormous,” he said.
“Harvester fires can burn through entire crops, farms, neighbourhoods and communities, causing infrastructure losses, serious burns or even result in fatalities.”
Mr White said there were other good practices that should be employed when harvesting, such as planning the direction of harvest operations so the machine was always moving into the prevailing wind.
This would mean any fire was less likely to spread into unreapt crop.
“If there is a fire, pull into an area of crop already harvest and face the machine into the wind,” he said.
Mr White said an important practice each harvest was a conversation with the entire harvesting team to make clear what to do if a fire does start.
“Who is doing what, who are they going to call?” he said.
“With that on the line, every grower should have a plan, which is discussed with their whole team, on how to reduce the risk and respond to harvester fires.
“If they’ve had the conversation, everyone knows what to do.”
- Details: View tips in the GRDC’s Back Pocket Guide at grdc.com.au/ReducingHarvestFiresBPG
