Dust explosion claims decades-old grain elevator in Lawson, Sask: owner

A grain elevator built in 1959 burned down earlier this week in Lawson, Sask., following a dust explosion, according to its owner. 

Blair Crowley, a rancher in the area, was three miles north of the elevator hauling bales when the fire started. He had passed right by the elevator and saw a crew loading grain out of it moments before the fire started.

"I saw a puff of smoke come out the top of it," he said. "It was only a couple minutes, and flames were shooting out of the elevator."

The explosion threw back one worker, sending him to the hospital in Moose Jaw for overnight treatment of burns, said Doug Higginson, the owner of the elevator. 

"We're very fortunate that he's going to make a full recovery, and there weren't more serious injuries," he said. 

Dust explosion

Higginson's company, Central Butte Feeds, operates the elevator as a storage facility in Lawson, located about 175 kilometres northwest of Regina. He believes a spark inside the facility may have caused a dust explosion.

The company did some renovations when it bought the elevator four years ago. Higginson said the company's kept it clean and maintained since.

"We spent a lot of money to make sure it wouldn't become decrepit and left alone and not fall down," he said. "It's so disappointing. It should have lasted another 100 years."

Corinne Newton could see the elevator from her nearby farm, so when she and her husband saw the smoke billowing from it, they drove over to take video of the scene.

"It was pretty emotional watching it," she said.

They had to back up their truck because embers were flying through the air. Several days later on Thursday night, she could still see the fires burning.

She posted a video on Tuesday afternoon. It's since been watched by more than 12,000 people.

"It shows you that it's not just the local people that it means something to."

'We hate to see it go'

For Crowley, the loss of the elevator is personal. He owned and operated the elevator for 16 years, and he remembers watching it get built 1959.

"Most towns they've knocked all the elevators down and that elevator stood right on the highway," he said. "Almost every time you looked, someone was stopped on that highway taking a picture of that elevator because you don't see them anymore … We hate to see it go."