MAXWELL — Safety officials are still trying to figure out exactly why a bin filled with grain collapsed at 111 W. Junction Street, Maxwell in the early morning hours Tuesday, Feb. 22.
No one was injured when the bin full of grain fell over around 6:20 a.m. but emergency officials did evacuate several homes in the area and delayed the start of school for students at Maxwell Intermediate after the bin collapsed on a gas meter which broke a gas line.
Greenfield Fire Territory Chief Brian Lott said officials had no way to shut off the line, so they had to call in a crew with a backhoe to dig up the line and shut off the gas flow from another spot.
“That took some time, so they evacuated 10 homes and delayed the start of school for the kids at Maxwell Intermediate School,” Lott said.
Officials are not ready to say just yet what caused the bin to collapse but soggy, saturated ground due to melting snow and heavy rains in the area may have played a factor.
“We are not sure why it collapsed, but it was full of grain,” Lott said.
A representative from Farmers Grain of Maxwell, 6 S. Main Street told the Daily Reporter it was one of their bins that had collapsed but since it happened so early in the morning, no one was at the facility, and they had no reports of any type of injuries. Officials there did not want to speculate on if the grain inside the bin could be salvaged or was a total loss.
Officials from Maxwell Intermediate School sent out an email to their parents around 9 a.m. updating them on the situation and assuring them everyone was safe.
“As you are likely aware, there was some type of collapse at the grain bins in Maxwell this morning, after buses had started routes, causing a gas leak and evacuation of the area,” the release said.
Parents were told the gas should be shut off within the next hour, around 10 a.m., allowing them back into the school building.
Students who were already on route to school were taken to J.B. Stephens or Eden Elementary schools, and breakfast was served. The MIS staff was distributed between the two buildings for supervision purposes.
Fire officials from GFT said the incident could have been much worse had the collapse happened later in the day when more people would have been out and about.
