Scorching temperatures in parts of Ontario this summer left many fields parched, leading to the right conditions for hot bearings and electrical faults to ignite dry crops.
Combine and baler fires have been the most common in Ontario, with spectacular images and videos shared on social media.
Callise Loos, deputy fire chief for Minto Fire Department, Wellington North Fire Service and Mapleton Fire Rescue, said her department has seen several baler fires in recent weeks.
Loos advised farmers to be aware of the amount of time a machine is operating to prevent overheating.
“Combines and other harvesting equipment generate large amounts of fine dust and chaff which can accumulate around hot engine components, exhaust systems, bearings, and electrical components, which means a single hot surface or spark can ignite accumulated debris,” she said, adding harvest machines often operate continuously for many hours; overheating can often become a source of ignition.
Not far away from Minto, in the Municipality of North Perth, Janny Pape, director of development and protective services/fire chief, said she has also seen an increase in machinery and field fires in neighbouring jurisdictions.
Dry crops and heat
“Most of the machinery and field fires we respond to start with a heat source on the machine, such as an exhaust component, bearing, or electrical fault, that ignites accumulated crop residue, chaff, or dry vegetation,” Pape said, adding that under hot, dry and windy conditions, a small machinery fire turns into a field fire within minutes.
She said a spark or flame from a combine, baler or tractor can quickly ignite dry crop residue, stubble or standing crops, allowing fire to spread quickly across a field.
“These fires are challenging because they often occur in large, open areas with limited water supplies. Wind can push flames quickly across fields and into nearby grass, bush, or structures,” she said.
Pape noted the size of agricultural properties also means fires can outpace suppression efforts, requiring significant resources.
She said communities protected by volunteer firefighters rely on members who are available at the time of the call. She added that during calls that are longer in duration, maintaining adequate staffing levels and relief crews can be a real challenge for fire departments.
The technology firewall
Despite farm machinery reaching new levels of technological advancement, the same fire threats remain.
Andrew John Leaman, CEO and founder of Chariot Command Corp, a company founded in Ontario and now based in Saskatchewan, has created sensors and cameras for balers and combines that watch the hot spots on the machinery.
As a firefighter himself, Leaman is acutely aware that most farm technology is not meeting the demands of increasing risk factors such as weather and operational challenges.
“No matter the technology, you, the farmer, have to understand the machine, the field, the crop, the weather, the maintenance history, the operator, the time of day, the technology itself. Everything. That’s what making the right call is built on, and no sensor has any of it,” he said.
Leaman said sensors help farmers reach spaces that they cannot see or hear, buying time in the event of a fire.
“Sometimes that’s seconds, sometimes longer, depending where it starts. In a fire, that’s the difference between a machine you shut down and a machine you walk away from,” he said, adding, if people simply lean on a system to catch things, habits slip. “We don’t need to do it that way any more. The system will tell us. That comes with the technology, so it has to go on top of good practice rather than replace any of it.”
Sensors and imaging
Handheld sensors are also an option to spot hot areas, such as malfunctioning bearings, after running the equipment for a while in the field.
Leaman’s technology is always on.
“You may already own a thermal imager, but it’s in the truck cab or the shed, and checking with it means stopping and getting out. We put it on the machine and leave it running,” he said, noting this allows the operator to stay in charge.
Leaman said the technology available to farmers, such as thermal and visual imaging, sensors and motion monitoring, doesn’t always keep up with the risks. Despite being a trusted fallback for other industries, he said agriculture can be harder on equipment.
“Industrial work is often static and predictable. Agriculture is never the same twice. Different field, different conditions, different operator, different day, and all of it dirty,” Leaman said, noting technology can now keep an eye on the farm without having to be on site.
AI alerts
Additionally, artificial intelligence is bringing monitoring into a new era of autonomy.
Leaman said AI and automated alert systems are becoming a greater part of the prediction and detection of fire, but with a caveat.
“There’s a lot of promising AI out there, but without enough data to train on, you can’t fully trust it. So we built on something with a very high confidence rate: temperature change, using established technology. What we changed is the form factor, not the physics.”
Despite these advancements, Leaman noted there are still limits. He said in the summer of 2025, the company was testing on a large baler, watching it from a distance in different vehicles.
“I kept seeing a hot spot at the rear. It bothered me, because there was nothing mechanical back there. No reason for heat in that spot. When they finished baling, we went and had a look, and it was a taillight running extra hot. A real fire risk, and not something anybody would have thought to watch for. The sensor found the heat. It couldn’t tell us it was a taillight, and it couldn’t tell us that mattered,” he said.
Prevention tips
Leaman said he and his team are listening to farmers to help identify how new technology can fill the gaps current technology creates.
He said farmers have told him that they understand what needs to be done to prevent fires. He said he does not take those comments as a rejection but as something to learn from and apply to future technology development.
Also, don’t forget about hot machinery after it is parked.
“The gap nobody covers well is after shutdown. When you walk away from the combine, our system is still running. If a bearing is still hot 15, 20, 30 minutes after you’ve parked it, you may have a problem. A lot of machine fires start after the operator has left for the night,” he said.
Pape recommended farmers take the time to inspect and maintain equipment before beginning work.
Daily equipment inspections before heading to the field during harvest are strongly encouraged.
Loos recommends creating an inspection checklist that covers all areas of maintenance:
- Clean dust, chaff and crop residue before starting and finishing each day.
- Check all bearings for excessive heat, unusual noise or signs of wear.
- Examine belts and chains for cracks, fraying and misalignment.
- Inspect the electrical system for frayed wiring and loose battery connections.
Loos said one of the best ways to ensure a fire doesn’t spread is to have a tractor and tillage implements at the ready.
“Having a tractor and disc, cultivator, or other tillage implement readily available can be invaluable if a field fire starts. If conditions are safe and operators are trained, tillage equipment can be used to quickly create a firebreak around the fire, limiting its spread through crops, stubble, and grass before firefighters arrive,” she said.
Other steps farmers can take include:
- Ensuring emergency access routes to fields are known and accessible.
- Reporting fires early by calling 9-1-1 immediately, even if they appear small.
- Providing responders with accurate field locations and directions.
- Reviewing emergency plans with family members and farm workers before harvest begins.
- Sharing information about local conditions, such as drought, high fire danger days and potential water sources.
When farmers, neighbours and fire departments work together, small incidents are less likely to become major emergencies.
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