Ten tips to reduce the risk of harvester fires this season

The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and fire safety experts are encouraging growers to implement practical measures to reduce the risk of harvester fires over the coming weeks. 

Recent GRDC Harvester Set-up Workshops run across Australia’s grain growing regions have highlighted the importance of harvester hygiene and maintenance, especially when harvesting more volatile crops such as lentils. 

About seven per cent of harvesters start a fire each year, in a range of crop types including cereals and pulses. In these cases, one in 10 will cause significant damage to the machine or surrounding crop. 

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Kondinin Group research engineer Ben White presented at the workshops and said growers should maintain high levels of hygiene and pay attention to ongoing maintenance of machinery throughout harvest. 

“Bearing failures are in many cases responsible for fires starting, so regular monitoring of bearing operating temperatures is important,” Mr White said. 

“Operators should be conducting regular clean downs during harvest and exercising particular caution when harvesting leafy pulse crops, as these are renowned for dust volatility. 

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“In areas where growers are harvesting frost-affected crops, these crops may create higher levels of fine dust which can make the harvester work harder, resulting in higher exhaust gas temperatures, adding to the risk of fires.”  

Mr White offers the following 10 tips to improve harvester fire safety: 

1. Most harvester fires are caused by dust and trash build-up and bearing failures. Clean the machine down regularly, starting at the front then working in a top-down approach. A final blast of air over the exhaust system to dislodge any dust that may have been disturbed and settled during the clean down is recommended. 
2. Pulse crops are substantially more volatile than cereals so extra care and vigilance is required when harvesting these. 
3. Monitoring and logging bearing temperatures with an infra-red heat gun or thermal imager helps identify at-risk bearings so they can be replaced before failure. 
4. Recognise the big four factors that contribute to fires: relative humidity; ambient temperature; wind; and crop type and conditions. Abide by state-based grain harvesting codes of practice and declared harvest bans and observe the Grassland Fire Danger Index (GFDI) protocol on high fire risk days. 
5. Have at least the minimum required water and fire-fighting unit in the paddock being harvested. 
6. Having a pair of extinguishers (water and A/B/E) at the cab entry ladder and a pair at the rear of the machine closer to the engine means fire-fighting options are available when and where they are needed. A fire suppression system provides the best chance of extinguishing a fire on a harvester. 
7. Having a fire plan in place with the harvest team is imperative. Knowing who will do what and identifying communications channels to be used means everyone knows what to do. Having a listing of emergency numbers or uhf channels in the cab is essential. 
8. Harvesting highly volatile crops like lentils across the paddock into the prevailing wind gives operators a better chance of containing the fire as incendiaries are blown onto stubble, not standing crop. 
9. If operators do have a fire on board, pulling out of the crop immediately and facing the machine into the wind before attempting to fight it gives the operator the best chance of controlling the fire. Remember, harvesters are replaceable so prioritise personal safety. 
10. Research has shown static does not have enough energy for the ignition of even the most volatile crop residues. Be mindful that it can, however, contribute to significant dust/fuel loads on the machine. 

The GRDC publication Reducing Harvester Fires: the Back Pocket Guide provides an easy-to-read harvester fire reduction checklist. The GRDC podcast Preventing harvester fires in lentils has relevant tips and information for growers (regardless of crop type). 

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In addition, a recent GRDC Farm Business Updates webinar on Pre-Harvest On Farm Preparations is now available to watch online.  

GRDC has also released a new Harvester Setup Guide – optimising harvest losses with contributions from a range of third-party independent harvest optimisation experts based on their experiences. The guide covers measuring harvest losses, reducing header front losses, feeder house set-up, threshing system set-up, the cleaning area, harvest weed seed control and safety.