A calm Friday morning turned hectic with calls wondering where all the excitement was. My brother called and said that he was meeting multiple firetrucks and rescue squad units that were pulling down my road.

They didn't make it to our place, but another town's firetrucks did come by from the west, so we figured something happened between our place and the main highway.

What happened was at a pair of hog barns about a mile as the crow flies from our place. There were a lot of emergency units, a lot of flashing lights, but nothing else. Well, at least nothing else to be seen from the nearest road.

A crew was working in one of the empty hog barns, doing repairs to gates and whatnot. One of the workers was using a grinder on one of the gates when the sparks met gases from the deep pit manure underneath the barn.

Stories with that introduction usually don't end well. Usually, when sparks from a grinder or the pilot light from a power washer or heater meet the manure gases, there is a fire — if not an explosion.

This Friday morning there was a ball of fire, but fortunately that was it. The barn didn't burn. Thank God no one was hurt. Maybe shook, but not hurt. Lucky, yes, but not hurt.

I have written stories on pig farmers who were not as lucky. Barns were lost, skin was lost, hogs were lost.

This latest is a story of luck, but it also serves a good reminder to hog producers when manure gases are involved.

The Pork Checkoff has a good set of primers for staying safe around manure and the gases produced: hydrogen sulfide, methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide. Each of these gases, if in high enough concentrations, may be harmful and even cause death. Safety should always be a priority, but even more so when handling manure in a pit or lagoon.

The Pork Checkoff suggests five main considerations when handling manure:

In the scenario spelled out above, the barn was empty of hogs, and manure was not being pumped, further instilling the importance of safety whenever manure gases may be present.

Manure handling should be a part of every producer's emergency action plan, and this plan should be reviewed regularly and updated when necessary. These plans should also be shared with any manure handling contractors.

Not all spark-manure gas encounters can have a lucky ending, so it is best to hone up your safety steps to do the best to prevent such events.

Schulz, editor of The Farmer, grew up on the family hog farm in southern Minnesota, before a career in ag journalism, including National Hog Farmer.