Grain Bin Rescue
Wow, where has the year gone? The Missouri State Fair is complete. It was a busy year for the fire department this year as they ran around, I believe 240 calls…. Speaking with the staff, it seems like the weekends were the busiest as they had many heat-related calls and even had to use the station as a cooling station for the fair.
Speaking of the station, the state fair committee and numerous volunteers have been cleaning out the station and putting our items into storage as the state is tearing down the station and building us a new one. This is supposed to be ready by next year’s fair. Thanks go to the committee and Chief Wilson for a job well done this year.
Fall is coming up, which means the farmers will be in the fields and the harvest season will begin. So my article for this magazine, we will speak about grain bin rescues.
Grain bin rescue calls are a challenge to firefighters, no matter what the situation. Many think that these types of incidents only happen in rural settings, but that is not the case. This type of rescue has happened in large cities as well as small rural communities. Anywhere there is a grain facility, there is a chance that such an incident can occur. Many factors are involved in an incident such as this: the condition of the grain, the location of the facility, the reasons for a person to be inside, how long the individual has been trapped, the air quality in the bin, access to the entry point, and the type of grain involved. Remember, grain bins are a confined space and should be treated as you would a confined space.
Training for this type of incident covers many disciplines: ropes, confined space operations, patient care and packaging; understanding how a grain bin, silo, or grain elevator operates; safety shut-offs and lockout/tagout; air monitoring; grain rescue tubes and removal; and the like.
Each year about 55 grain bin entrapment events happen around the United States. Many of these events happen in the Midwest
Fire departments need to do preplans on grain facilities. Family farms and co-ops are getting larger, not smaller.
If your department responds to a report of a person trapped in a grain bin, you need to ask yourself a few questions.
Where is the access to the bin?
What is the number and conditions of the patient or patients?
Do we need mutual aid?
Is this going to be a rescue or a recovery?
How tall is the bin?
How much grain is in the bin?
Sizing up an event like this is unlike a call where most things are visible. Doing a 360 walk around the structure will not be much help due to not being able to see inside. When approaching these scenarios, I like to think of them in terms of offensive or defensive attack: do we have a rescue situation, or will this be a recovery?
Establish a perimeter and stabilize the scene, the machinery, and the patients. Set your staging area so that not all the vehicles are crowded around the bin. Talk to the family and find out where to lock and tag out the power. If you do not have an aerial apparatus, figure out where you can get one or will you need a crane to get equipment up to the entry point and to get the patient out.
As far as air quality testing, monitor from the top down. Your conditions can change in a matter of minutes.
Next, form a rescue team; you will need an entry team and a rope team. Secure a high-point anchor. This can be an overhead auger, aerial, crane, multipurpose folding ladder, or a quad pod. Remember, getting your equipment to the top of the bin will be a challenge.
Once the rescue teams are set and a plan is in place, the team can enter with safety lines attached and while monitored outside of the bin. Rescuers can start assessing the patient, administer any EMS needed, get a rope or a grab strap around the patient to prevent the individual from going any deeper, and request equipment that they will need to have a successful rescue.
The rope team will need to get the safety lines on the rescuers, rig the haul line, and make sure to coordinate with the rope team on the ground when to haul. This system can also be used to get equipment to the top much easier than trying to carry up the bin ladder — unless it has a staircase.
Using the rescue tube to build a circle around your patient is a process of sliding panels together, then pushing them down. Once the panels are pushed in around the patient, insert the rescue auger and start removing the grain from inside the tube. When the patient is free, help them out by using the steps or by taking a panel out and sliding it on to the grain surface for packaging.
Once the patient has been removed from the entrapment, you must package the patient/victim for removal from the bin. The patient will be lowered to the ground on/in a Sked board on the rope system and transferred to EMS. I highly recommend never letting the patient crawl out on their own. If the patient happens to fall or have a medical emergency, it would not end well. Training and the necessary tools are a major factor in grain bin rescues. If you do not have the training, equipment, and personnel to complete the job and have grain bins in your response area, then you are doing your community and residents a disservice. These incidents are low-frequency and high-risk. The knowledge and training of the first on-scene firefighters will determine, to a great extent, how the rescue goes.
If the FFAM can be of any assistance to you or your department or if you would like us to attend your event, please reach out to us. I can be reached by email at grant_oetting@yahoo.com or by cell phone at 660-229-4525. If I don’t answer, please leave me a voicemail or feel free to text me as well. Until next time, be safe, my brothers and sisters…
FFAM
