Paint Creek and Grain Bin Rescue Team extricate farmer from grain bin

At 2:20 p.m. Wednesday, Paint Creek Fire received a call of a subject stuck in a grain bin at 5309 Mad River Road in New Market Township. The Highland County Grain Bin Rescue Team was activated at the same time, as reports were the subject was submerged in grain up the level of his chest.

Within 14 minutes from the time of call, units from Paint Creek as well as both trailers from the Grain Bin Rescue Team started arriving on scene. They were met by a friend of the victim, who stated Derald Crago had entered the bin to try and break up a crust that had formed on the soy beans they were trying to offload from the bin.

Within nine minutes of fire and rescue personnel arriving, rescuers from the grain bin rescue team entered the bin to assess the situation and see what additional resources would be needed. All rescuers entering the bin do so in the safest manner possible by wearing full body rescue harnesses attached to ropes secured outside of the bin.

Upon entering the bin, Crago was found trapped at the bottom of a large built-up cone of soybeans with a large unstable crust of beans still lining half the bin’s circumference, which at any time could have collapsed, completely burying him in grain. The crust of unstable beans was a good eight to 10 feet above Crago’s head.

Team commander Branden Jackman, who was already in the bin, was then joined by team member Andy Pridemore. They tossed equipment to Crago and instructed him how to attach a harness to himself and then how to attach a life safety rope to his harness, thus securing the victim to the outside of the bin should the grain shift anymore. The equipment was tossed to the victim, as the cone was very unstable and the rescuers didn’t want to cause a shift in the beans, further burying the victim.

At this point, ladder trucks had arrived from Paint Creek as well as Tower 85 mutual aid from Fayetteville Fire Department. The ladder truck is used in this kind of rescue to provide an elevated anchor point for ropes above the bin to allow men and equipment to be placed inside with minimal disturbance to the grain and maximum safety for the victim and rescuers.

Through the generosity of the Highland County Farm Bureau, local businesses, individuals and farms, the grain bin rescue team is outfitted with two ResQ-Tubes that are a four-part cofferdam. Enough grain had been evacuated from the bin via a side door to allow the ResQ-Tube to be brought in and placed around the victim, thus preventing any more pressure being applied to him or any more grain falling on the victim.

Once the cofferdam was placed and secured, the team utilized a shopvac and hand scoops to start evacuating the grain from inside the tube with the help of the victim. Once the grain level was dropped from chest level to about mid-thigh level, Crago was able to free himself from the soybeans and walked from the bin under his own power and was immediately turned over to an EMS crew from Paint Creek to evaluate his condition. Mr. Crago received no injuries from his entrapment and was left in the care of his wife Bonnie at the scene.

It took approximately one hour and 30 minutes for members of the grain bin rescue team to free Mr. Crago from the grain. A 165-pound person standing in grain with a 10” auger running to offload the grain has less than 15 seconds until they will be waist-deep in the grain. Once you’re waist-deep, there is no self-rescue … you will have to have assistance to be freed. It would take 325 pounds of upward force to remove an individual who is stuck waist-deep in grain. This amount of force would cause further catastrophic injury to the person you are trying to help.

Derald and Bonnie Crago wish to extend their heartfelt thanks to all the departments and rescuers who responded and freed Derald from the bin.