November 02, 2024

Students get firsthand look at grain bin entrapment

By Jeannine Otto

Bre Broers, a junior at Bureau Valley High School, plays the role of a victim being engulfed in grain. Demonstrations of grain bin engulfments and rescues were conducted following a screening of “Silo,” the 2019 movie about a teenager engulfed in grain and the hours that follow. Broers and other members of the Bureau Valley High School FFA took turns rescuing and playing the part of the victim. (AgriNews photo)

MANLIUS, Ill. — For Bureau Valley High School FFA members Bre Broers and Jason Carrington, it was a sinking feeling.

“Once I was down in the grain and they started pushing the corn on top of me, I was like, ‘I don’t like this much.’ You don’t realize what it’s like,” Broers said.

Carrington, who lives on a farm, agreed.

“You lose all movement and then you start losing feeling and the pressure gets deeper and deeper,” said the Bureau Valley High School sophomore.

Broers, Carrington and several of their fellow Bureau Valley High School FFA members took turns being the victim engulfed in grain and rescuers.

The students, coached by members of Stateline Farm Rescue, surrounded the victim trapped in grain with a metal cofferdam grain tube, then dug out corn from around them using hardhats.

Scott Larson, a firefighter with the Madison, Wisconsin, fire department and a member of Stateline Farm Rescue, led the rescue efforts and explained the dangers of grain bin entrapment to the students and others gathered at a warehouse owned by Nutrient Ag Solutions Manlius/Walnut.

Crowded onto two small metal platforms surrounding the mock bin and trapped victim, Larson and those volunteering to help rescue had a bird’s-eye view of how difficult an actual rescue can be.

“We had some good discussions up there on safety precautions if they would ever be in a grain bin, what they should and shouldn’t do, how to get help if someone is trapped,” Larson said.

Earlier, the students joined around 300 other guests, including volunteer firefighters and emergency services providers from the local area, as well as members of the public and ag community at Bureau Valley High School for a screening of the film “Silo.”

The film chronicles the fictional grain bin entrapment of teenager Cody Rose and the ensuing efforts to rescue him, as well as the toll the event takes on people involved, from the manager of the elevator and his elderly father to Rose’s mother and the local fire chief.

Evan Hultine, president of Bureau County Farm Bureau, welcomed guests to the BVHS auditorium for the event.

“Sometimes I think we are too eager to jump in and handle it ourselves, put some of the safety issues aside. All too often, rescues turn into recoveries very quickly,” Hultine said.

Bureau County has seen two grain bin-related deaths, one in 2018 and one in October 2019. Less than a month ago, a man was pulled alive from a grain bin near Dixon in Lee County.

“I think the fact that there are over 300 people here is indicative of the fact that people understand this is a really serious issue and something we need to seek resolution on,” Hultine said.

Major sponsors of the event were Princeton Firefighters Local 4308, which sponsored the movie screening, Bureau County Farm Bureau and the SharkFarmer Podcast.

Jared Doty, a firefighter and paramedic with Princeton Firefighters Local 4308, comes from a farm background himself. He said recent tragedies inspired the move to bring “Silo” to Bureau County.

“We’ve had a string of these incidents in the past year and a half time frame. We just really saw a need to bring awareness to the community to hopefully prevent this from happening again,” Doty said.

Doty said in rural areas, a call for a grain bin entrapment or other farm accident hits close to home for many first responders.

“They are all neighbors. They are all friends. They are all somebody you know, and it just hits a lot harder for someone who has an ag background or who comes from a farm,” Doty said.