Winamac farmer succumbs to injuries from grain elevator explosion

A Winamac farmer has died in a Fort Wayne hospital from burn injuries suffered Sept. 26 in a grain elevator explosion in Francesville.

Tim Reidelbach, 57, who was unloading his grain truck at the time of the incident, passed away Monday morning (Oct. 10).

Also critically injured in the blast was elevator employee Glenn Tiede, 67, Francesville who remains hospitalized, also at the St. Joseph Regional Burn Center in Fort Wayne.

A full obituary for Mr. Reidelbach, who leaves behind his wife Lisa and two grown children, appears in the obituary section of this website.

Following the explosion two weeks ago, both men were treated at the scene by emergency responders before being airlifted to Fort Wayne.

According to witness reports, Reidelbach was in his grain truck, unloading, when the explosion occurred. He was assisted to safety by two other farmers waiting in line to unload grain, Josh Federer and Dan Culp. Tiede had been assisting Reidelbach with the grain unload.

A call reporting the explosion at the Tate & Lyle grain facility, located on the south edge of town, came in to emergency officials just after 2 p.m. that afternoon.

A brief fireball was reported at the moment of the explosion, followed by white smoke which could be seen coming from the top of the elevator immediately after the blast.

The elevator structure did not burn or collapse, but concerns about the integrity of the concrete elevator following the explosion limited access to the facility throughout the afternoon for police and firefighters to begin their investigations. A two-block area was cordoned off around the grain facility, but no evacuations of homes and businesses were conducted.

The state fire marshal's office was called to investigate. A consulting team from Tate & Lyle was also called to the scene to safely direct operations. The following day, the state fire marshal investigator determined the explosion was accidental. Officials reported a failure of the down lag in the north pit of the elevator occurred, leading to a spark which ignited a dust explosion.

For two days, firefighters returned to the scene on occasion to extinguish pockets of smoldering grain.

Fire departments from Monticello, Rensselaer Medaryville, Monon, and Buffalo assisted the Francesville Volunteer Fire Department and other county emergency officials at the scene.

Tate & Lyle is a global provider of ingredients and solutions to the food, beverage and other industries, with operations in over 30 locations worldwide.