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No injuries reported in M-G feed mill explosion
Weimar Firefighters McCall Ulrich and Travis Christian appear as tiny specks high atop the grain elevator while they inspect the exhaust stack. Photos by John Jones/Citizen
On Monday, Dec. 28 the M-G feed mill located on I-10 outside Weimar experienced an explosion that was heard from miles away. A witness also reported seeing smoke and a flame but couldn’t identify where it originated. Fortunately, there was more sound than fire. According to Mark Kloesel, CEO of M-G, an overheated bearing in one of the elevator legs sparked and the dust particles ignited in the stack. This caused the loud “cannon-like” boom and the fireball.
The Weimar Fire Department, Weimar Police Department, Colorado County Emergency Management, and the Colorado County EMS were on the scene immediately. Everyone was evacuated safely from the building. According to Weimar Fire Chief David Brandt, the fire department conducted a sweep of the entire area and determined where the incident occurred. Water lines were run up the tower and the overheated bearing was cooled down. This was done by running a water hose from the fire hydrant on the main road, connecting to a stand-pipe on the side of the tower and the water was pressurized by a fire truck up to the firefighters on the elevator tower. There were no injuries and no major damage reported.