For 15 minutes Monday evening, Hutchinson firefighter Jason Sturges was buried to his waist in corn. For him it was a training exercise.
But for more than 900 farm workers during the past 50 years, that situation, or worse, has been a reality. Such grain bin incidents have a historic 62 percent fatality rate, but equipment received by the Hutchinson Fire Department is designed to make rescue much easier.
“It’s amazing how a little bit of corn around you can actually trap you,” Sturges said. “That was an interesting experience. It was only up to my waist and I couldn’t do anything.”
Hutchinson firefighters were joined by firefighters from neighboring departments and Hutchinson Co-op employees to learn about the grain bin rescue tube during an hourlong classroom session at the Hutchinson station. Firefighters spent the next several hours training with the equipment with instructor Brad Kruse from the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety.
“Obviously, the frequency of this is pretty low, which is good,” Fire Chief Mike Schumann said. “But the potential threat of entrapment in a grain bin is a real thing. When it happens, it’s kind of like quicksand. There is no easy way to escape or change your outcome on your own. It’s imperative that we have the right equipment to respond.”
The rescue tube is a collection of metal panels that slide into place with each other and interlock to make a ring around a trapped person. A tube can then be used to suck the grain out of the enclosed section around the victim.
“We then hoist them out with the harness and rigging, or they may be able to get out with a little assistance,” Schumann said.
Once a sufficient amount of grain is out of the section inside the ring, one of the metal panels can be slid up and out of the locked formation, allowing the victim to climb out with help.
“It had to be below my knees before I could walk out of it with assistance,” Sturges said. “It’s designed very well, very simple once you see the whole process work and the right way to use it.”
Schumann recalls a death more than 12 years ago when a person was trapped in a grain bin.
“In my 18 years, we’ve had maybe three or four that had some kind of entrapment, and one fatality,” Schumann said.
The department received the equipment by way of a Nationwide Insurance program.
“Last year we competed in a contest to see if we could win this Tube of Life,” said David Larson of David Larson Financial and Insurance Services. “I’ve had three farmers get killed in grain bin accidents in the 30 years I’ve been in the Hutchinson area. If we save one, it’s worth it.”
He filled out the nomination form with Andy Rostberg and invested the necessary $5,000. The program also requires a local farmer to be part of the nomination. John Hoff put his name in. The program has received nearly 2,000 nominations since 2014, and 77 fire departments across 24 states have received the equipment.
“What a great turnout,” Larson said after the classroom portion of the training. “Thirty-five people. It’s good people know the tool is around.”
