Co-op to rebuild in Winthrop

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

WINTHROP -- Work crews began pulling smoldering debris apart Monday after an early morning fire Sunday claimed the United Farmers Co-op grain elevator, parts of which had stood in downtown since the 1920s.

Deputy State Fire Marshall Investigator Casey Stotts said there is "nothing definite" about the Winthrop fire that indicates whether or not it was set on purpose or happened by accident.

Jeff Nielsen, general manager of the co-op, said the loss of the elevator is certainly a major loss for WInthrop but also said the co-op has had plans for a newer, more modern facility east of town.

The elevator was the site of an early Sunday morning fire that drew firefighters from every fire department in Sibley County and a few from Brown and McLeod counties.

He estimated the damages done in Sunday's fire are in between $750,00 and $1 million. About 30,000 bushels of grain were lost in the blaze.

The United Farmer's Co-op fire followed a major fire at the Unidoor plant in neighboring Gaylord one week earlier. Gaylord is seven miles west of Winthrop. Investigators in that fire recently said they believe the blaze was the result of arson.

Stotts said the Winthrop fire started in a smaller elevator and gradually spread to other parts of the buildings. He said grain dust may have had a role in starting the explosion that destroyed the building early Sunday morning.

"Usually, there's one or two (grain elevator fires per summer)," he said. "The only thing that's not common is how frequently they happened."

Crews hired by the co-operative's insurance company arrived by 4 p.m. from Rapid City, S.D., to help demolish the remains of the structure and to salvage as much as they could of the 40,000 bushels of corn and soybeans that burned in the fire. Nielsen said the salvaged grain won't be marketable after it is removed and will likely be sold in a special market.

Nielsen said the co-op had plans for a new site near that town months before the fire happened. He said only one person, Mike Rettmann, manages the Winthrop site. No one was on duty when the fire was discovered early Sunday morning. No injuries were reported.

Meanwhile, authorities in Gaylord said there are no new updates in the Unidoor fire from last Sunday but did indicate they are following up on leads. They declined to comment further.

Stotts said later that investigators in Gaylord are finished combing through the actual fire scene. He said they found definite signs of a break-in at the Unidoor plant but have not determined the actual cause of that fire yet. The investigation has now shifted to interviews conducted by Gaylord police and the Sibley County Sheriff's Office.

The Winthrop grain elevator had been scheduled for demolition in 2004 in order to make way for the new facility, which is expected to open by fall.

United Farmers Co-op also operates an elevator in Klossner, a town 10 miles south of Winthrop in Nicollet County, and Lafayette and LeSueur.

Nielsen said the co-op's new facility is going to be quite a bit larger when it opens this fall. He said the company was originally planning to phase the downtown Winthrop elevator out gradually, but now has to change its plans. He said the company expects to spend about $2.1 million in the first phase of construction and added that the fire could push costs up and force the company to alter its plans. The new Winthrop facility is expected to be complete by Sept. 15.