CENTERBURG – “It’s priceless.”
That was the reaction from Kayla Jones, a Knox County organization director for the Ohio Farm Bureau, when Centerburg’s fire department was awarded grain safety equipment and training from Nationwide Insurance.
The insurance company ran its annual “Nominate Your Fire Department Contest,” with the Grain Bin Safety advocacy campaign a key part of this year’s competition.
Central Ohio Joint Fire District was one of 1,800 nominated for the honor. Fifty-eight fire departments were picked, five from other Ohio stations:
- Windsor Fire Department, Windsor.
- Silvercreek Township Fire Department, Jamestown.
- Rome Fire Department, Rome.
- Jefferson Township Fire and Rescue, Richmond Dale.
- Covington Fire & Rescue, Inc., Covington.
In order to win, community members submitted responses to Nationwide saying why their fire department needed the safety equipment, Central Ohio Joint Fire District Chief Mark McCann said.
Grain rescues are a common call from farmers to fire departments, Jones said. These rescue kits and the ensuing training will dramatically help farmers across the state, including Centerburg.
Agriculture has some of the highest rates of preventable fatal work injuries among major industry sectors, according to the National Safety Council.
Grains inside the metal-tinted silos develop a crust, Jones said, pulling grains toward the bottom of the barrel. If the crust releases, the likelihood of being sucked to the bottom increases.
“It’s very difficult to get out of,” Jones said, adding it’s very similar to quicksand.
Almost a year ago, Knox Pages’ Emma Davis reported on ways farmers were working toward preventative measures to make sure grain deaths decreased.
Before winning the award and having an “instrumental” piece of grain safety equipment, McCann and other fire chiefs would rely on multi-aid for grain rescue calls. Without grain specific devices, firefighters use plywood and backboards, the fire chief said.
There hasn’t been any grain rescues in Knox County as long as McCann has been fire chief, he said.
Having the grain safety tube is only part of the solution, McCann said, adding training is essential for these rescues. The safety tube is valued between $3,000 to $5,000, Nationwide’s Public Relations Specialist Bethany Eippert said. Those resources are being paid for by donations from the Ohio Farm Bureau.
To rescue someone from a grain bail it can easily take upward of 12 to 15 people.
“You have to move efficiently and have a sense of urgency,” McCann said. “You can’t just run out of there, you’re going to get hurt.”
You’re going to have two victims instead of one, McCann added.
Grain rescues aren’t a fast process due to finding where the person is in the grain, setting equipment up, coordinating with first responders and actually getting the individual out of the grain, McCann explained.
Meanwhile there’s other calls being made to surrounding fire stations, he said. Either heart attacks, alerted fire alarms or car accident calls will come through.
To prepare for a situation when a house fire and grain rescue call collide, McCann and surrounding fire chiefs gather to coordinate and plan out those worst-case scenarios.
“We play the ‘what-if’ game,” he said.
The equipment won’t arrive until mid-August, McCann said, where training will also be provided by Nationwide.
