Grain bin rescue tube presented to Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Co.
SAXONBURG — A new piece of rescue equipment is available to fire departments in southern Butler County.
The specialized tool — a grain bin rescue tube — was recently presented to the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company by the Butler County Farm Bureau.
“There's a lot of farmers now putting grain bins on their farms,” said Evelyn Minteer, a farm bureau director. “We're seeing more and more grain bins in our area.”
Minteer has been a major advocate of the rescue tool, so much so she helped convince Custom Agri Systems Inc., a grain-handling equipment business in Napoleon, Ohio, to donate a tube to the Prospect Volunteer Fire Department.
Known as “The Great Wall of Rescue,” the potentially life-saving equipment is based at the Prospect VFD, but available to fire departments in northern Butler County.
The tool's value arises when someone accidentally falls into a bin or silo, such as when checking on the quality of the grain, making sure it's not moldy or wet or when a worker is trying to free a jam.
“If you get trapped in a grain bin,” Minteer said, “it can suffocate you. It's like being in quicksand.”
Once the grain gets up to the waist of a trapped person, he cannot pull himself out. As he struggles, he sinks lower.
Five seconds is all it takes for flowing grain to engulf and trap a worker, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
In 60 seconds, the worker is submerged and is in serious danger of death by suffocation. More than half of all workers engulfed in grain die this way. Many others suffer permanent disability.
Asphyxiation can also occur due to insufficient oxygen levels, said Chris Ballina, chief of the Saxonburg VFC.
A rope rescue is not an option in silo/grain bin rescues, Ballina noted, because the pressure on the body caused by the grain could cause serious injury in the attempt to extract the trapped person.
The grain bin rescue tube, he said, is the best available option.
The tool consists of lightweight aluminum panels that are placed around the victim and into the grain kind of like a sleeve. The panels are attached to one another, making a wall that prevents more grain from closing in on the victim.
While rescuers press down on the panels, a portable auger is inserted. The auger siphons the grain from inside to outside the wall until the victim can be raised up safely.
The farm bureau has been holding fundraisers, such as raffles, to pay for the tool and related training costs, which aren't cheap.
Minteer said the rescue tubes cost $3,500 each, and another $5,000 for training firefighters on how to use them.
Ballina said he hopes to organize a class by the end of the year that would offer instruction on using the tube. The class would be held at a still-to-be-determined farm, and it would be open to anyone who wants to attend.
