On Saturday, July 30th, 27 firefighters and EMTs took part in an all-day Grain Bin Rescue class, presented by the Ohio Fire Academy Direct Delivery program, free to the first responders. The Payne Fire Department hosted the training at the Paulding County Fairgrounds. The one day long class consisted of classroom work for most of the morning before heading outside to the training area to go over the hands-ons portion of the training.
Every 10 years, 235 farmers lose their life in an agricultural-related incident. Grain bin fatalities are steadily increasing each year. Such fatalities occur for a variety of reasons with the two most common being suffocation by engulfment and entanglement with moving parts.
The majority, approximately 91%, of Ohio’s land use is agricultural. It is comprised of cropland, forest, and pasture. Ohio has 74,900 farms, totaling 3,800,000 acres; the average farm size is 184 acres.
The significance of agricultural rescue training and education opportunities in Ohio is based on professional firefighter capacities relative to the agricultural land use area they serve. According to the Ohio Fire Chiefs’ Association, 80% of the fire departments in Ohio rely on Volunteer firefighters.
Some of the learning points of the training day included:
• Create various levels of rescue exercises, that simulate real life rescue situations first responders may encounter in rural emergencies.
• Increase the capacity within rural rescue teams by optimizing the first responders’ knowledge and skill when responding to rural emergencies.
• Create an awareness for hazards on farms and reinforce best management practices while working in and around grain storage bins.
Subject items that were covered were the following:
Grain bin construction, Grain bin hazards, Safety considerations, Rescue team components and Equipment needed.
The first responders were split up into two groups, to cover the equipment to be used, cutting grain bin panels, and access to live product (courtesy of the Scott Equity Exchange), rescue techniques and they finished up with performing rescue scenarios.
This is the second visit of the Ohio Fire Academy’s mobile lab trailer, to come to Paulding County and hopefully will be an ongoing accordance in the future.
The state of Ohio is blessed to have a mobile lab that was created from a group of Ohio State University Agriculture senior students as their graduation project in 2012. The C.A.R.T. (Comprehensive Agricultural Rescue Trailer) has been so successful and in demand, the second trailer, is being funded and constructed in 2023.
Paulding County Fire Departments have been blessed to obtain grain bin rescue equipment that was purchased by The Paulding County Farm Bureau and the Paulding County Area Foundation.
The first responders from Antwerp, Auglaize Twp., Cecil/Crane Twp., Paulding, Payne and Scott participated in this training.
