An August grain bin rescue in Allen County served notice to Iola Fire Chief Corey Isbell that his crews needed better equipment.
A farmer escaped injury after he had been working on top of a pile of corn when it collapsed beneath him, pinning him up to his neck with grain.
Iola’s fire and rescue team was at the scene within minutes, but struggled inside the bin, because the plastic panels they deployed, designed to shield the rescuers and the victim from the cascading kernels of grain, could not withstand the pressure.
“The pressure kept pushing the panels in,” explained firefighter Brad Vyhlidal, who was at the scene. “It was frustrating.”
A mutual aid call to Anderson County proved most fortuitous, because that team of rescuers had metal panels, capable of withstanding the weight of the grain.
It took about four hours before the farmer was freed.
FAST FORWARD to this month, when the Fire Department — armed with a $4,810 grant from Frontier Farm Credit — purchased 10 new heavy aluminum panels, specifically designed for grain bin rescues.
Dubbed the Great Wall of Rescue, the panels measure about 4 feet tall by 18 inches wide, and are grooved on each side so they can be assembled together into a single wall.
“The plastic panels didn’t hold up very well,” Isbell said. “These are sturdy and will help us do our job more effectively and efficiently.”
The panels came from KC Supply Co., Isbell said, and differ from other packages in that this unit has 10 panels instead of the regular six. That gives rescuers more flexibility and space, if necessary.
“You can maneuver them around pretty easily,” Isbell said.
THE AUG. 7 incident was the first in recent memory for the Iola department. A recent study indicated there were 34 such rescues across the nation in 2023, but those do not count incidents outside grain bins, such as in the back of trucks, hoppers or other areas, Isbell noted.
“It’s one of those things where you spend the money and hope you never have to use these,” Isbell said. “But when you do use them, you want them to work.”
