Fire Destroys Potato Storage buildings of Norman Crooks Farms

Nearly 20 fire departments responded to flames at a Montcalm County potato farm (Michigan) Wednesday, but none of the potato storage buildings, housing farm equipment and millions of potatoes, could be saved. 

Around 4PM fire crews were called to Norman Crooks Farms, 5450 N. Musson Road, Stanton, one of the large potato growers in Michigan. 

"When I pulled in, the whole storage unit was on fire -- the whole west end of it," said John Crooks, who runs the farm with his father and brother. "We usually load potatoes everyday for the potatoes chip plants. There were probably 600 semi loads of potato." 

Along with the potatoes, millions of dollars of farm equipment were destroyed. 

"Sure, it is going to set us back -- it's going to be hard to have things ready to go in April when we start planting again, because we lost so much equipment," Crooks said. 

The good news nobody was hurt, everything is covered by insurance, and fire crews did manage to save a home and office on the farm.