The Grain Bin

Andy Bauer, London, OH, branch manager for Heritage Farm Co-op, regularly offers a $20 bill to anyone who can escape from a hip-high pile of grain. Despite the offer to fit firefighters and farm kids on the school's wrestling team, he has paid off only once. That's because it is nearly impossible to escape an avalanche inside a grain bin once grain starts to shift.

While rural first responders train constantly to handle barn fires and chemical emergencies, almost none train to rescue victims from grain bins. Now a program in Ohio teaches first responders what to do and how to do it.

How it Happens

Grain bin burials typically happen when a farmer steps inside a bin to break up a layer of corn. As he is shoveling a layer of wheat or soybeans that is stuck to the wall of the grain bin, the grain suddenly avalanches. If a grain augur is running at the base of the bin, the farmer has fewer than four seconds to escape a deadly trap. So far this year, 38 American farmers have died in grain bin burial accidents. But grain bins are not the only hazard. Gravity flow wagons and semi-trailers act as traps, too.

According to OSHA, even sticking one's head into the door of a grain bin constitutes "an entry" into the bin. Doing so without safety equipment is illegal, but farmers continue to enter grain bins without a rope or harness.

Grain Bin Rescue
The first step to rescuing a victim is to turn off the unloader augur at the hopper bottom silo. Next, an aluminum rescue tube, which has to be small enough to easily fit in a 22" x 22" opening, is brought into the bin. Once it's placed around the entrapped victim, the grain rescue tube alleviates pressure from grain or other flowing material and prevents the victim from being engulfed.

However, these are only the final steps in the chain of events that will save a life. As with any rescue protocol, ideally the procedure starts well ahead of disaster.

Preparing Ahead

Training is key. "Professional firefighters get absolutely no training in agriculture," says Captain Dave Torsell from the City of Urbana, Ohio, Division of Fire.

Nobody should ever go into a grain bin while alone. Having a buddy outside the bin vastly increases a victim's chance of survival. "It is not news that people go into grain bins. What is news is that we now have a way to rescue people from grain bins," says Torsell. He recommends rescue teams visit local farmers and practice on their farms so they get a taste of what they might encounter.

 Even before that, the first step for the local volunteer fire department is to build a file of information on local farms. Most counties already have an address identification program, and many farmers have provided their local department with a list of chemicals stored on the farm. First responders also need to know where the farm's electronics are. Remember, the first step to saving a person avalanched in a grain bin is killing the augur.

Once burial has stopped, the next step is to relieve pressure on the victim, especially if the burial is deeper than waist-high. Having a harness and rope linking everyone to the outside makes this proposition much easier. Once the grain gets chest-high, the farmer is in deep trouble. A bushel of corn weighs 56 pounds; just 10 bushels of corn is the equivalent of a quarter-ton weight pressing on the victim's chest, making breathing difficult.