North Bollinger County Fire Protection District to receive grain rescue tubes

The North Bollinger County Fire Protection District is one of 48 fire departments across the country selected to receive free grain-rescue tubes and training from Nationwide Insurance.

More than 1,000 fire departments and districts were nominated through the annual Nominate Your Fire Department Contest hosted by Nationwide Insurance.

Shane Welker heads the North Bollinger County Fire Protection District as its chief. He said people in the community nominated the fire protection district to receive the training and rescue tubes.

The fire protection district rarely encounters situations of grain entrapment, according to Welker, but having the equipment was something people in the community thought the fire district would benefit from.

"In the 20 years that I've been here, we've never had one [grain entrapment rescue]," Welker said.

According to a recent study by Purdue University, there were no fewer than 35 grain-related entrapments in 2020. Twenty of them led to fatalities.

Illinois reported the most cases in 2020 with 17 instances -- more than double the next two highest reporting states.

"It only take seconds, or a simple mistake, for an adult to sink in the quicksand-like flow of grain and become fully entrapped or engulfed," Brad Liggett, Nationwide's president of Agribusiness said in a statement. "Adding to the risk is a lack of rescue equipment available to local fire departments and emergency responders who are called for help when a worker becomes trapped."

Welker said the Bollinger County Fire Protection District does not currently have rescue tubes for grain entrapments.

The National Education Center for Agricultural Safety will deliver the rescue tubes and training throughout 2021.

The training sessions will include classroom education and rescue simulations using the entrapment tools. Each entrapment rescue tube can hold about 100 bushels of grain each.

Out of the 48 fire departments selected, four were in Missouri -- Fair Grove Fire Protection District, Malden Fire Department, North Callaway Fire Protection District and North Bollinger County Fire Protection District.