The harvest is a crucial stage of agricultural work. One of the main tasks is to conduct the harvesting campaign under conditions of increased safety. As is known, fires cause the greatest damage to crops and agricultural machinery.

The main causes of fires on combine harvesters are: short circuits in electrical wiring, rupture of hydraulic hoses, and oil getting onto hot engine surfaces. And since checks often reveal that combine harvesters go into the field with unadjusted lubrication systems, fuel supply, and hydraulics, as a result of which they quickly become covered with combustible dust, along which fire quickly spreads throughout the combine. Often, combine harvesters go out without primary fire extinguishing equipment.

The technological processes of drying, cleaning, and storing grain pose no less fire hazard. The most frequent cause of fires and ignitions is non-compliance with the grain drying regime when the temperature of the heat transfer medium in the dryers increases. As a rule, this happens as a result of the operating personnel violating the established technological regulations for the operation of dryers, which leads to grain ignition, failure of expensive equipment, and sometimes the destruction of the entire mechanized complex.

To prevent such incidents, all agricultural workers must remember that compliance with fire safety rules is everyone's duty, and the preservation of the harvest depends on its fulfillment.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations reminds of the basic requirements of FIRE SAFETY RULES during the harvesting campaign:

• before the start of the harvest, the facility manager must appoint responsible persons for fire prevention
preparation of harvesting machinery and units, organization of fire safety briefings for combine operators, drying complex operators, drivers, tractor drivers, as well as compliance with fire safety regulations during grain harvesting;
• employees involved in harvesting, processing and storage of crops, and roughage preparation must undergo training on the fire safety minimum program, as well as fire safety briefings;
• exhaust pipes of engines of self-propelled chassis, mowers, tractors, vehicles and combines used for grain harvesting and roughage preparation must be equipped with functional spark arresters. The presence of spark arresters is also mandatory for tractors engaged in plowing if these operations are carried out simultaneously with harvesting near plots with unharvested grain or

  by fire fighting equipment and a tractor equipped with a plow. Adapted equipment must be supplied with water, a pump, and primary fire extinguishing means;

• movement of grain harvesting equipment must be carried out in groups, with escort by fire rescue or fire extinguishing adapted equipment. Movement of grain harvesting equipment by a single unit is permitted for repair and maintenance purposes, provided that the units are fully equipped with primary fire extinguishing means;
• grain harvesting combines must be equipped with at least two OP-8 fire extinguishers and a fire blanket measuring at least 1.5*2 m;

In case of fire in the harvesting areas, the machine operator must:

• give a signal (audible, visual, with flags) to the driver of fire fighting or fire extinguishing adapted equipment;
• commence extinguishing the fire with available fire extinguishing means and move the grain harvesting unit out of the grain field. Straw from the combine's straw chopper must be ejected after the unit has been moved out of the grain field;
• take measures to limit the spread of fire in the grain field (plow a firebreak around the burning area). People should be stationed along the plowed strip to extinguish flying sparks and burning straw bundles.