Blaze destroys top of Hinton corn dryer

Burning corn took out one of the Hinton Co-op's grain dryers Wednesday.

The Hinton Fire Department responded to a 3:15 p.m. call reporting smoke coming from one of the two grain dryers at the Hinton Co-op.

"There was a pretty good fire in the upper third of the grain dryer," Hinton Fire Chief Chad Beck said. "Corn in the dryer was burning and we don't really know why yet."

Le Mars and Merrill Fire Departments also responded to the blaze.

Crews used the aerial truck to fight the fire.

"It didn't look safe to have people walking around it," Beck explained.

Firefighters put out the fire in about an hour, then worked on the remaining hotspots, finally leaving the scene at about 5:30 p.m.

The Hinton Co-op is working on a damage estimate, Beck said.

"You could see where the fire had deformed the metal on the top of the dryer," he said.

No one was injured in the fire, and no other structures were damaged, Beck added.