The man, whose name was not released, was conscious and breathing when he was rescued around 7 p.m. He is expected to make a full recovery.
More than 50 rescue workers responded to the farm in the 2000 block of Timberman Road, where soybeans inside a grain silo at one point were up to the victim’s chin.
Credit: Michael D. Clark
Credit: Michael D. Clark
Not unlike quicksand, grain is fast-flowing and can trap anyone who falls in it. Struggling creates a suction, drawing the victim deeper, according to the United States Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health.
The Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health states nearly half of grain entrapments that become engulfments lead to death by suffocation.
This man was trapped up to his chin before crews were able to free him to his mid-chest, according to dispatch reports.
The heat inside the silo was so intense and the breathable air in such short supply that rescuers had to lower multiple oxygen masks and tanks in for themselves as well as for the victim, our news partner WCPO in Cincinnati reported.
Ross Twp. Fire Department Chief Steve Miller said the man had been attempting to clear out an auger — a rotating helix-shaped rod that helps move grain to its next destination — inside the silo when he slipped and fell inside. Another man, a relative who had been working with him, called 911 immediately, according to WCPO.
“It most definitely would have had a different outcome if the victim had been alone, Miller said.
Emergency crews were working to secure the man as they worked to “drop the grain” from the bottom of the silo.
INITIAL REPORT
Emergency medical crews — including a medical helicopter — have responded to a man reportedly trapped chest-deep in a Ross Twp. grain bin, said police.
According to Butler County Sheriff dispatchers, the man is trapped in a grain silo and a medical helicopter has been sent to the site at a farm at 2225 Timberman Road in the township.
No condition of the man was yet available, said dispatchers.
Radio dispatch reports the grain level is rising to his shoulder, and anticipate “an hour-plus” extrication time.
The reports came to area dispatchers at approximately 4 p.m. today.