Nick Frankenbery was caught up in the excitement of harvest when he headed to the field for his second day of harvesting wheat on June 13. It was a hot, sunny day and his 10-year-old son, Cohen, was coming along to ride in the combine.

Cohen's older sister was away at church camp and Cohen was at "man camp," helping Dad and Grandpa with the wheat harvest.

As the fifth generation of his family to farm in Wilson County, Nick has a deep love the land he farms and the way of life it provides. And nothing typifies that lifestyle more than the chance he had that morning to share the special experience of wheat harvest with family.

Nick was driving Frankenbery Farms' "brand-new to us" Case-IH combine, purchased last fall for the operation that Nick shares with his dad, Marlen. The machine had just come back from the dealer after a tuneup for wheat harvest. The cutting was moving smoothly, and Nick was enjoying getting to know the machine.

Just a few hours later, things went very wrong.

"We were unloading on the go, and I got an error message. And I couldn't get the auger to come back from the unload position. I was getting more error codes. I stepped out of the cab to see what I could do, and I saw that the wheat field behind me was on fire."

He jumped down from the combine and realized the entire rear end of the combine was engulfed in flames.

"My first thought was Cohen. I went back into the cab and told him to grab his things and run as fast as he could toward the trucks. I am very proud of him. He did exactly what he was told without hesitation or complaint. He was obviously very worried about me, but he stayed away like I told him.

"When I saw he was out of the way, I ran back to the combine and grabbed the fire extinguisher and ran to the back of the combine. But I knew it wasn't enough," Nick said. "As soon as I popped the side shield and saw the blowing hydraulic fluid, I knew it was only going to get worse. That combine was almost full of diesel fuel, probably 200 gallons. Diesel doesn't explode, but it was going to be a big, big fire."

FULLY ENGULFED: Within mere seconds after he realized that the combine he was driving had caught fire, Nick Frankenbery saw that the rear of the machine was totally engulfed in flames.

So he ran to the front again and got the header loose, he said.

"Then I jumped in the cab to try to back the combine away from the header. That engine died and that's when I knew I had to get out, too," he said.

It was in that moment of silence after the noise of the engine died that he felt his only panic.

"Without the noise of the engine, it was quiet. All I could hear was the crackle of the fire moving into the wheat. There was nothing I could do. I had to just get back to safe distance and watch it burn."

He said the diesel tank did rupture and burn, but the only moment of explosion was when the rear tires of the combine blew.

He said he was so consumed with the effort to do what he could that he didn't think about how much danger he was in until after it was over.

As bad as it was, however, there were circumstances that helped. The wind was from the south and the combine was headed south, so the fire was being pushed away from the front of the combine and into the stubble of the already harvested field.

"The wind was probably 20 to 25 mph," he said. “If I had been headed north, I might have realized there was fire sooner, but it would have spread over the top of us really, really fast."

THE AFTERMATH: Once the Neodesha Fire Department and the Wilson County Rural Fire Department had arrived to put out the flames, Nick Frankenbery got a look at what was left of the combine that Frankenbery Farms bought just last fall and that had been used for only about 12 hours.

Another break was that a hired hand saw the smoke and hopped on an ATV with a water tank and headed into the field to douse hot spots. A truck from the Neodesha Fire Department, along with two trucks from the Wilson County Rural Fire Department, arrived in just minutes and got the fire out. In the end, they lost only about 5 acres of ripe wheat — and a 2013 model combine with only 1,069 hours of engine time.

That doesn't seem like much when Nick thinks of what could have happened. The combine was insured and agents from Farm Bureau have already started a claim. Nobody was hurt, and very little standing crop was lost.

"You hear about wheat field fires, but they are actually pretty rare. This is the first time I'd seen one. I have friends and relatives in my dad's generation who have never seen one. But I now know that it doesn't take much. And I will be eternally grateful to the firemen from Neodesha and Wilson County who put it out."

He said the Case dealer has asked to look at the wreckage and see if they can determine where the fire started and what caused it. Since it started back near the batteries, it could have been electrical, he said. A bearing may have overheated somewhere.

"If only we knew what caused it," he said. "Maybe there was something I could have been checking to make sure it was working correctly. I was still figuring out the operation of the machine. It was so new I hadn't even cleaned the windshield yet."

Neighbors quick to arrive to help finish the harvest

When the "new-to-us" Frankenbery Farms combine was destroyed in a fire on June 13, Nick and Marlen Franenbery's neighbors were quick to let them know they were making sure the remaining acres of wheat would make it to the bin.

"Our area Kansas Farm Bureau director [for the 3rd district], Joe Newland, showed up on Wednesday and knocked out 100 acres," Frankenbery said. "My dad has some friends coming and we are sure that harvest will get done."

Newland said showing up to help is "just what Kansans do," and he was glad to be able to help.

He said he's just glad that Nick's experience was not a tragedy.

"If  he had been headed north instead of south … I don't even want to think about it," Newland said. "I've been on these machines all my life, and I know that really bad things can happen. You've got some 200 gallons of diesel fuel, basically in a plastic jug on the back. Nick was very, very lucky in this one. Machines can always be replaced."

Newland was back in the combine again on June 15, still helping with the Frankenbury Farms harvest.

"It's what neighbors do," he said. "Next time, it could be me that needs the help."

Frankenbery said he has been "a little overwhelmed" at the outpouring of support. "There have been so many people offering to help that it's just humbling," he said. "It's hard to accept that I need help. I am used to taking care of myself. But when you need help, you need help, and this is a case where I need it, so I just have to be grateful."
He said it has been a tough harvest in southeast Kansas already. One of his neighbors tragically lost a son in early June, and the community had already stepped up to help him through harvest.

"And now they are helping us," he said. "That's rural Kansas. We help each other out. But it sure is easier to be the one offering the help than it is the one that needs it."