ARCANUM- — Firefighters from the village of Arcanum and the surrounding communities began a battle against a silo fire Monday evening, refusing to quit for nearly 20 hours until the operation was completed.

At approximately 7:16 p.m., firefighters from the Arcanum Fire Department were dispatched to 6489 Hollansburg-Arcanum Road in regards to a corn silo believed to be smoldering.

Mutual aid from numerous departments from across Darke, Montgomery and Preble counties were requested throughout the night and morning hours of the operation.

According to Chief Kurt Troutwine, of the Arcanum Fire Department, a corn silo holding nearly 9,000 bushels of corn had to be offloaded throughout the course of the night after it was discovered a fire had begun to burn at the bottom of the storage area.

Firefighters remained on standby during the course of the offloading adding water to battle flare-ups as needed. Five semi loads of corn were removed from the property throughout the night and morning hours. Firefighters had to remove several hundred bushels of corn by hand with the use of shovels and a corn vacuum to further sort the saved crop from that which was destroyed in the fire.

“I can’t thank everyone enough for all the help that was given here today,” stated property owner Gerald Brehm of Brehm Farms. “In all, I think we saved almost 7,000 of the 9,000 bushels we started with, I don’t think I have ever seen so many people work so hard as they did here helping us.”

Chief Troutwine echoed his sentiments adding, “I have to thank everyone who helped us here last night and today. There are so many to thank I know I would never get them all covered, but all the area departments that responded mutual aid and everyone who aided in the hard work and support efforts were remarkable. I can’t thank them enough.”

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time and will remain under investigation by the Arcanum Fire Department.