IN Firefighters Get New Tool for Grain Bin Rescues

June 28, 2020

Thanks to a $2,000 grant, the Clay City Harrison Township Volunteer Fire Department purchased a grain bin rescue auger that will make it faster and easier to save people trapped in grain bins.

By Alex Modesitt

Source The Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, Ind.

Clay City Harrison Township Volunteer Fire Department bought a grain bin rescue auger to help pull out people trapped in grain bins.

First responders in Clay City have a new tool at their disposal they hope will make area farms a little more safe.

Using a $2,000 grant from the Duke Energy Foundation, the Clay City Harrison Township Volunteer Fire Department bought a grain bin rescue auger that will facilitate faster, easier retrieval of people should they fall into a grain bin.

The auger attaches to a rescue tube that drops down around a stuck person and pulls grain off and away from the person, often allowing them to again take full breaths.

Before buying the auger, Clay City Fire Chief Jim Rupp said they had only a five-gallon Shop-Vac to do the same work. And beside the vacuum’s capacity limitation, it also needs an external power supply to run — and that’s not always readily available.

The auger, by contrast, is operated by a cordless drill, for which the department has several batteries.

“I’ve been in one grain bin rescue, and at the time didn’t have any of this equipment,” said Keith Grassick, president of the fire department. “With this equipment, it would have been much easier and gone much quicker. … Having this is a great asset to our department.”

According to research from Purdue University’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 67 fatal and non-fatal cases of confined-space incidents occurred across the U.S. in 2019.

Of those 67 cases, 38 were grain entrapments.

In the Wabash Valley, an 18-year-old died Nov. 2019 near Waveland, in Montgomery County, after falling into a grain bin.

Kurt Phegly, Duke Energy spokesperson, said the foundation grant is an effort to prevent a similar tragedy in Clay City and surrounding communities.

“Falling into grain isn’t so different from quicksand in that rescue is dependent on time and having the right equipment,” Phegly said. “Hopefully they never have to use this equipment, but if they do they’ll have it available and the training available to deploy.”

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