WESTPHALIA — A year after they received a grain rescue tube from a national farm safety group and the specialized training to use it for rescues, Westphalia firefighters used their training to help rescue a man from a grain bin at Corley Seed Co., Westphalia, recently. The man, who wasn’t identified, was cleaning out a grain bin when he was sucked down into the grain, Anderson County Sheriff Vernon Valentine said. The situation didn‘t become an emergency because the man was pulled part-way down and stopped but he wasn’t able to extricate himself, Valentine said. Westphalia firefighters were summoned to the scene to help rescue him. Working from the top of the bin, rescuers were able to pull the man out, he said. The Westphalia Fire Department received the $2,600 rescue tube, which was donated by KC Supply Co., and training last year after Fire Chief Kenton Ludolph, nominated his station for the “Nominate Your Fire Department Contest” sponsored by Nationwide Insurance and the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety. The competition is an attempt to get the tube and training to volunteer firefighters, who are usually a rural community’s first and only line of defense, said Dan Neenan, NECAS director. Unfortunately, although rural areas are where grain entrapment emergencies occur, many rural departments lack the specialized rescue techniques and equipment needed for successful bin rescues, he said.
Tuesday, Nov. 24, 11 a.m.
