Custom Agri Systems, Inc, an Ohio grain-handling equipment business, last week donated a grain bin and silo rescue tool to the Butler County Farm Bureau. From left, Unionville Fire Chief Nathan Wulff; Prospect Fire Chief Ken Wilson; Slippery Rock Fire Chief Ryan Hanchosky; Dan Zippey of Custom Agri Systems; Portersville Fire Chief Tim Saunders; Jerry Osborne, Portersville VFD assistant chief; Larry Voll, president of the Butler County Farm Bureau; and Evelyn Minteer, farm bureau director.

PROSPECT — A specialized farm rescue team is being formed among members of four Butler County volunteer fire departments.

When up and running the team will be deployed to farm-related accidents and emergencies throughout the county, said Ken Wilson, chief of the Prospect Volunteer Fire Department.

“We're still in the planning stages,” Wilson said, “but we hope to be ready within the next six months.”

In addition to the Prospect VFD, the team will consist of firefighters from Portersville, Slippery Rock and Unionville departments.

Those departments last week got a major boost with the acquisition of a potentially life-saving piece of equipment called “The Great Wall of Rescue.”

The device is designed to save someone who accidentally falls through the top of a grain bin or silo.

“When you're trapped in a grain bin, it suffocates you. It's like being in quicksand,” said Dan Zippay of Custom Agri Systems, who delivered the device June 26 to the Prospect fire station.

Once the grain gets up to the waist of a trapped person, he cannot pull himself out. As he struggles, he sinks lower.

The specialty team is needed, said Slippery Rock Fire Chief Ryan Hanchosky, to ensure sufficient manpower to answer the calls.

Read more in the Butler Eagle.