An unrelated Martinton ambulance call may have saved lives Wednesday during a grain bin collapse.

A first responder on an ambulance call at the Donovan Farmers Co-Op Elevator in Martinton spotted a bulge in the grain silo concrete and rebar on its north side, which ultimately collapsed.

No one was injured, but power was knocked out for the Iroquois County community of about 300.

In a news release from Iroquois County Emergency Management Agency coordinator Scott Anderson, Martinton Fire Chief Jeff Meyer said the ambulance was dispatched about 10:30 a.m.

Meyer said Wednesday during an interview with The Daily Journal that the call was for a truck driver not feeling well.

At that time, elevator employees mentioned that they were hearing pings of small debris hitting the roof over the dock as they were working.

According to the release, Meyer then called for more manpower from neighboring departments. That came from Papineau and Watseka.

It was during removal of harvested soybeans that the collapse occurred about 12:45 p.m. Meyer said in the release that there was a shift in the grain inside the bin.

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 10

Harvested beans and concrete cover the ground after a concrete grain bin collapsed on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, at the Donovan Farmers Co-Op Elevator in downtown Martinton. Power lines can be seen knocked to the ground in the rubble. (Tiffany Blanchette/Tiffany Blanchette)

Meyer ordered an evacuation from the perimeter near the silo. At 12:52 p.m., the silo collapsed, sending people scurrying to get away.

Fire officials said the silos were built in 1972.

A video posted on social media showed the collapse. There is a bright fireball caused by the power lines being pulled down. There also is dust from the grain.

Lt. Bruce Lane of the Papineau Fire Department and Meyer said Wednesday that those two things together can cause an explosion.

That would have made for a different situation to deal with, they both said.

After the collapse, more manpower was called in from Ashkum. Riverside Healthcare provided emergency medical services coverage.

There were 30,000 bushels of harvested soybeans in the silo.

The collapse knocked out the main transformer that supplies electricity to the town.

Ameren worked to restore power shortly before midnight, according to the release issued by Anderson.

Iroquois County Sheriff Clint Perzee recalled the collapse of a steel silo at an elevator in Darrow about 20 years ago as the most recent collapse of this magnitude.

“Thanks to the observant eye of the ambulance personnel at the original call, we were able to evacuate and secure the area around the silo,” Meyer said in the release. “This action certainly prevented what may have been life-threatening injuries or even fatalities. I am extremely grateful to the ambulance crew for bringing this to my attention. Throughout the incident, there were no injuries reported.”