By JO ANN HUSTIS

Illinois Correspondent

JOLIET, Ill. — A new computer application software program could be a swift step forward in aiding grain bin entrapment rescues.

“In an emergency like that, time is very precious, and if the rescuers get there in a timely manner and have the proper tools to work with, it can save a life,” noted Director Mark Schneidewind of the Will County Farm Bureau at Joliet.

“I think the app is a really good step in the right direction to help rescuers identify where the closest grain rescue tube is located and then they can go to that. I think the app is going to be a helpful tool because if you call 911, the people who come out may not have access to the grain tube and extension to the auger. I think the app is going to be a helpful tool.”

Grain bin entrapments and engulfment make agriculture one of the state’s most dangerous industries. The new Illinois Grain Rescue Tube Locator App uses a GPS system to locate the nearest grain rescue tube in emergencies. The Illinois Corn Marketing Board (ICMB) and the Grain and Feed Assoc. of Illinois (GFAI) built the app to download on smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices.

After the Illinois Corn Growers Assoc. (ICGA) spoke with Schneidewind concerning an app last year, he located some tools at the local level, then worked with a fire district that did not have a grain tube or auger. He is now working with a second fire district.

“Some have the tubes, but not the augers,” he said. “As long as they have the one tool, the second tool is important too, so we’re trying to make sure the local districts are outfitted as well.”

Organizations, departments, grain elevators and other entities that own rescue tubes are part of the rescue team. “The grain elevator may have one and the local fire district may have one,” Schneidewind said of the tools. “So, whoever is coming to do the rescue would have training on that.”

 Fire Chief Tracey Steffes of the Morris Fire Protection & Ambulance District in Grundy County said there is an easier way than the app to locate a grain rescue tube in an emergency situation.

“If I call our Central Dispatch Division for our Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) at Plainfield, Illinois, they could tell me who has the rescue tubes,” he said, calling them “phenomenal tools.”

“(MABAS) might be a better deal than the app because departments without grain tubes can work with their MABAS to find not only who has a tube, but who has the training to use it.”

Tools and training

Metal rescue tubes are a key component in grain bin rescues. But, although they can help pull a victim from a grain bin, they cannot stop anyone from entering or falling into one. Like water, grain flows and easily shifts, sucking the victim deeper into the bin.

Suffocation is the leading cause of death in grain bin fatalities. The pressure created by grain waist-high against the victim will prevent them from moving and escaping the bin on their own.

Neither the app nor the rescue tube is a fix-all to fatal grain bin entrapments. “That’s because the tube by itself is not the Holy Grail of making the rescue,” Steffes said. “It’s the tube, along with the properly trained people who effect the rescue. If you just have the tube, but not the people properly trained in rope rescue and stuff like that, you might actually get the rescuer into a bad spot.

“The (rescue tube and training) work together,” he pointed out. “If they don’t, you’ll put rescuers into the position of where they can become victims themselves, and that’s a very good possibility.”

A Purdue University study accounted for 180 grain bin deaths nationwide from 1984-2012, and 900 deaths since 1964. Untrained rescuers made up about 60 percent of the fatalities, with about 50 percent occurring while the rescue was under way.

Steffes noted a growing problem with trying to find the manpower to undergo the licensed grain bin rescue training program and keeping current. “It’s becoming hard finding the manpower and paying for the training, and keeping those trained current on their training,” he said. Training alone ranges from about $2,000-$5,000 per person.

 “An example is the rural volunteer fire department that cannot afford to purchase a grain rescue tube at about $3,000. So, there’s a fundraiser and the rescue tube is purchased for them. That won’t fix the problem, because there’s the cost of training members and, once they are trained, their certifications have to be validated all the time and they have to stay current on their rescue training.

“That costs a lot of money,” he added.  “It’s a big financial burden on the volunteer departments. It’s a large burden even on a full-time paid department because the classes are expensive and it’s hard finding people with the time available to go to class.”

Many fire departments in the Grundy County area, including Morris, have their own grain rescue tubes. “We’re a little luckier because the Grundy County Farm Bureau raised and spent a lot of money for grain rescue tubes to donate to area fire departments,” Steffes said.

“We used ours once and were successful in a rescue at a grain co-op along the Illinois River. But we had a lot of circumstances working in our favor before we got to the scene.”