Watertown, SD-based Agwrx Cooperative last week donated two sets of grain tubes to Watertown Fire Rescue. The tubes will be used to rescue people trapped in grain bins.
According to Watertown Fire Rescue, grain entrapment/engulfment rescues can be labor and resource intensive. The tubes will help rescuers and victims in surrounding communities at well.
Lanny Kirsch, general manager of Agwrx, told KXLG News that grain entrapment is a big issue, especially for family farms.
While the death rate from accidents on farms has declined in the first decades of the 21st century, grain-entrapment deaths have not. Purdue University has been documenting and investigating these incidents since the 1970s. In its most recent study, in 2022, 83 cases were tracked, including 24 fatalities. This represents a 41 percent increase over the 59 entrapment cases reported the previous year.
The tubes are lowered into the grain in sections around the victim, then the grain can be removed from inside the tube, freeing the trapped person. The tubes from Agwrx can be used in conjunction with a gift given last year by Agwrx and Corteva Agriscience, according to Kirsch.
Watertown Fire Chief Don Roland said his department doesn’t handle a lot of grain bin rescue calls, but his crews must be ready when the calls comes. Previously, Watertown Fire Rescue would borrow similar equipment from Glacial Lakes Energy when they needed it.
Watertown Fire Rescue personnel have already received extensive training on grain bin rescues, Roland said, so no additional training will be needed for the Agwrx donation.