Newer combines are a bigger fire hazard

Troy Bierman posted two pictures with the comment: "My daughter Megan took these pictures 2 minutes apart. Makes a person think."

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It was shared by Combines Harvesters Threshers, which had some more interesting comments. I have noticed that all the pictures I have seen of combine fires have been John Deeres. Some comments mention that they switched to a plastic fuel tank for the 70s series. Another issue is that, to meet the newer EPA regulations on exhaust emissions, the exhaust system runs hotter.  The diesel and hydraulic fluid tanks are on top, so when either fails it rains oil over everything. And a combine has the same problem that a grain elevator has, when the flames reaches the grain dust, it practically explodes. I saw a comment on an earlier photo that I did not save that said you have to blow the chaff off the turbocharger every day to keep it clean. This posting had the more specific comment:

Kale White I bet it was turbo drain line!!! John Deere knows.... It's a Fix it fail... Contact your dealer lol before it's too late!!!!

Note that locomotives put the deisel fuel tanks underneath their frame as far away as possible from the turbocharger so that when the turbocharger burns, typically it is only the turbocharger that is lost.

Comment for video

I understand cell phones can be turned horizontally: video. I wish cell phone users would learn that. You can't see the color of the combine in the video because of the flames and black smoke, but you can you can see in the aftermath photo that it was green.

Blair Ishmael Facebook posted a video of another John Deere burning. (Warning, some of the language is rather "raw.")
Ronnie Picken I don't think I've ever heard of so many combines catching on fire until this year.

A "red" fire video.

YouTube then offered a compilation of fires, another "red" fire, a "green" fire, and another compilation of what can go wrong while combining. I haven't looked at them because I need to avoid being sucked down the YouTube rabbit hole :-)

Big Tractor Power shared Dave Farber's photo.

Update:

One of eight photos and a video posted by Nate Hastings
Fire started on a combine and burned about 15,000 acres of stubble till it ran into our disks.
Nate Hastings It started in an alfalfa seed field. No standing wheat burned. 25-30 mph winds on a late sunday afternoon. I went to help him evacuate his family while he made dirt. It was stopped cold on his farm after about 2 hours of disking.

Screenshot

A video of a Quadtrac burning because of "turbo failure." It gets redundant quickly.

Acomment on the above video to show that John Deeres also have problems
[I wonder if spraying water on it hurts rather than helps. What would foam equipment cost for a rural fire station? Burning diesel fuel, rubber and plastic is probably their biggest "market."]

Robert Oakes posted two phots with the comment: "Monday's suck." This the first time I have seen a photo of whats left after the fire is put out.
Cody Zellmer Here are a couple of questions: First, what kind of tractor was it (brand, model, etc)? Second, what was it doing (what kind of fieldwork)? Third, how did it happen? I wonder how much replacing it is going to cost?! Bad deal...
Robert Oakes 8970 John Deere
Was on a field cultivator
Caught under the cab 
Replaced it with a 9300
Chad M. Kunkel tractor fires are fun, several years ago, farmer from the area lost his life in a fire. was a john deere and couldn't get outta cab, fuel tank by the door.
Graeme Lehmann Plastic fuel tanks are a real concern on a lot of modern machinery.For the sake of your life,practice how to operate & exit via the rear window in case of fire or anhydrous ammonia leak.
Craig Arnold Had one do the same thing, Deere said it was caused by the cab mounts giving out and smashing the main battery cables. Heard of several that burnt the same way. Must have been a design flaw, with no recall !

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Rich Miller shared ten photos of a CaseIH burning. The farmers have to wait until the moisture in the wheat is low so they loose part of their crop as well as their combine.
Ricky Sorter Noticed a lot of new trucks and farm equipment fires since the DPF filters were put on diesel exhaust systems.
Mark Shannon Ebel Glad everyone safe. Damn high pressure hydraulics, fuel systems, Higher heat, reburn and def. gonna see more n more as these [as] newer machines age.

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Kurt Richeson posted
Burnt combine in a field in Monroe county
David Parker Scruggs Looks like the one in Dekalb county last year. Was still smoking days after it burned.
Dane A Anderson They send engineers from John Deere, CaseIH, etc to examine what happened, insurance has to examine what happened, then when the payment is finalized either John Deere, CaseIH will take it back or Insurance will pay to have it moved to scrap. It sitting there has nothing to do with finances.
Mark D. Irish I had a custom operator burn a combine in my field. The insurance company left it all winter. When spring came I sent them notice via certified mail that they had 10 days to remove it. If they didn’t, I would be billing them storage at $20.00 per day back to the date of the fire. It was removed within 48 hours of receipt of the letter.
Roger Scales Cutting beans is dirty and can cause a fire at about anytime.

Dane A Anderson commented on Kurt's post
Dane A Anderson This was removed 8 months after. They have to have a crane to lift 40,000lb onto a trailer. It’s a big deal.
Hanibal King Dane A Anderson I think this was the same one
https://www.facebook.com/1493026986/posts/10210251754358945?sfns=mo

The old ones would also catch fire sometimes.

Arnold Avery commented on a post

David Jackson shared
David Jackson The new ones burn faster all the dam plastic.
Ken DuBord One of my worst fears.

(new window) I subscribe to this channel. I normally just look at the titles rather than watch the videos. He got a new-to-him combine this season. After doing just 150 acres, it caught fire. It has now been repaired, and he is back to harvesting with his combine rather than a rental.


Video of a manure spreader beating the fire department to the action, skip to -2:00.