Firefighters were called to a Drumlithie grain firm yesterday – for the third time in a month.
The alarm was raised at the East Coast Viners LLP’s base after flames were spotting billowing out of the top of a drier at around 6.20am.
Six crews from Aberdeen, Stonehaven and Laurencekirk were sent to the site near Glenbervie Road to tackle the blaze.
Firefighters used a height vehicle to extinguish the fire in two bins, which had around 100 tonnes of grain inside. The fire was out at about 10.10am.
Speaking from the scene, Stonehaven’s fire and rescue watch manager John Strachan said: “We were called here after two bins caught fire in the drier at quite a high level and we have now brought the fire under control.
“We sent two appliances from Stonehaven, two from Laurencekirk as well as a height and specialist vehicle, both of which were from Central Station in Aberdeen.
“There were 100 tonnes of grain inside the building which we are now drying down.”
The fire was out by 10.10am, but the crews remained on scene for another three hours to target any hot spots in the drier. They left the scene just after 1pm.
A spokesman for the East Coast Viners Grain said: “It is very annoying that a fire broke out here but it looks like it has only caused a minimal amount of damage.”
Last month, fire crews were firm’s base twice in a matter of hours after two separate fires broke out on the same day.
On both occasions, more than 20 tonnes of grain had to be emptied as crews cooled the giant containers.
In the first fire on September 4, workers had initially tried to bring the situation under control when they spotted smoke from smouldering barley billowing from the machine.
However, unable to contain it they called the fire service who described it as a “tricky” situation.
The second alarm was raised seven hours later, with crews working through the night to check the grain tank’s temperature.
At the time, Mr Strachan said the firm had been very lucky as the facility is “one of the main drying units” in Aberdeenshire.