Agricultural-type Rescue


Well Brothers & Sisters allot of us have been introduced to Ag Rescue a time or two in our careers. In this segment I'm looking to get your attention and info on the situations you have been delt and give us some insight on what works for you and what tools can be used. No matter where you are there will always be a place for this, whether in the city dealing with your commercial guys mowing or your local farmer baling hay to running that post hole digger and to the man that works at the local CO-OP...

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Smoke EaterPermalink Reply by Smoke Eater on October 19, 2009 at 10:36pm
How would you go about getting someone out of an auger? We have a large grain elevator a mile up the road from me. If we get called there, I will probably be first on scene so it would be kinda nice to have a game plan before it happens. I am always running scenerios through my head about this place.
Permalink Reply by Justin D. Hendricks on October 19, 2009 at 10:41pm
For any firefighters near or in Pennsylvania, the partnership between the Penn State University Ag Program and the PA State Fire Academy has produced some really good courses. We ran several of these at our station as pilot programs, since one of our members (a farmer) helped to develop the curriculum. Here is a link to the brochure to give you an idea of what's offered: http://www.abe.psu.edu/ash/brochures/agrescuebrochure.pdf
In addition to the above courses, we ran a Farm Safety Awareness Day for local farmers, educating farm families about hazard mitigation, how to assist the Fire Department in an emergency, and our rescue capabilities. We found it to be a very useful opportunity to engage the local ag community.
As stated by others on this forum, these emergencies don't just take place in rural areas, and the skills involved in ag rescue are applicable to a wide variety of industrial accidents. Firefighters of all types can benefit from the training.
Permalink Reply by Justin D. Hendricks on October 19, 2009 at 11:20pm
The first step of course is stabilizing the equipment and the patient. Once that is done, a couple methods can be employed. The first and preferred method is to cut the auger and housing with a plasma cutter all the way through far enough from the patient to preclude injury, but keeping the section attached to the patient as small as possible, and transport the patient and auger section to the ER, where more resources are available to treat the patient while the shaft and vanes are removed. This may very well involve bringing your rescue equipment into the ER to effect the rescue. It would be a good idea to talk to your hospital ER about what would be involved from their end.
Of course, it may not be feasible to bring the patient to the hospital with auger still attached. In that case, any and all available hemorrhage controls need to be in place before proceeding to free the patient.
Either in the hospital or field, to free the extremity, it is possible to cut the outside tube of the auger lengthwise with an air chisel to gain access to the auger shaft and the extremity. The shaft can then be cut with a plasma cutter (or equivalent) far enough from the patient's extremity to preclude further injury. Wooden wedges work well to stabilize the shaft and vanes while you work. Once the auger is free at both ends, the shaft and vanes can be lifted out, freeing the patient's arm.
Although highly inadvisable, it is possible to rotate the shaft backwards to cause it to push the limb back out, but this method would have to be a last resort with all other options completely exhausted.
The problem with augers is that they are usually powerful enough to fully amputate an extremity, so the patient may be free (and bleeding profusely) upon arrival. Once the patient is transported, it will be necessary to recover the severed limb for transport to the same facility. This is the only scenario I have personally seen, and involved a foot amputated by a large grain auger at a local feed mill. We were able to recover the foot rapidly enough to transport the patient and foot together in the helicopter. Hope that helps!
Smoke EaterPermalink Reply by Smoke Eater on October 19, 2009 at 11:39pm
You have no idea how much help that was. But if you use a plasma cutter wouldn't that cause a fire in the material inside the auger? And how much of a limb would be left after getting into one of these things? I have been through some ag rescue training but that was several yrs ago. Needed some refreshing. It's harvest season now so this could happen tomarrow.

Thank you Justin and Chief Norman!!!
Stay safe brothers!!!
Jack CurlesPermalink Reply by Jack Curles on October 20, 2009 at 3:50am
Don't forget about Crop Dusters! More local farmers are buying their own these days!

Tackle these much the same way as any aviation accident except your also dealing with often poisonous chemicals ans a remote area with little to no foam or proper equipment.



photo by Brennan Leathers

AN AIR TRACTOR AT-301 crop dusting plane owned by local agricultural flight training school AG-Flight Inc. lies at rest in a field off Georgia 310 South after crashing Tuesday afternoon.
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Jack CurlesPermalink Reply by Jack Curles on October 20, 2009 at 3:59am
Most don't survive!
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Permalink Reply by CHIEF NORMAN on October 20, 2009 at 9:20am
Mike I can see what I can come up with to support what your asking, If you ask you shall receive...But here is the catch If I do find some information for you I am really going to need your expertise on this one because here in okla, we dont get much snow but we do get lots of ice so I ask you to be very informative with information and with any questions that may arise...From chief to chief!!!
Permalink Reply by CHIEF NORMAN on October 20, 2009 at 9:37am
Justin thanks for stepping in and handling 703's question. The only thing I can add is with anything that is internal or confined we have to be very careful on sparks, fire, or arcing. With confined space and with augers we all need to keep that SCBA on and try to remove whatever it may be from the patient. Now some may say what do we need to do, Well if your dealing with grain in a confined space your K-12 and cutting torches are out so sometimes you have to rely on simple hand tools or tools your able to cut with that dont arc and throw sparks...Again if there is someone there from the farm that can give you direction, say from shutting down power all the way to removing whatever it is he will be your point of contact..Always remember no matter the situation you have at hand take care of yourself first with safety being the up most importance or your not any good to anyone...But great job Justin
Permalink Reply by CHIEF NORMAN on October 20, 2009 at 9:46am
Something we need to add to this is Haz-Mat...There is lots of times when dealing with on the farm stuff your going to need your different levels of haz-mat suits and the expertise. One of the things we see the most of just before planting season in anhydrous ammonia...These tanks are going up and down the roads behind pickups to hooked up to equipment...So always keep your guard up and be aware of your surroundings.
Permalink Reply by Station10Capt106 on October 20, 2009 at 9:49am
This has been one of the most informative threads I've seen here in quite a while, ranks right up there with the 10 Minutes in the Street series.

Lets keep 'em coming.

John
Permalink Reply by CHIEF NORMAN on October 20, 2009 at 9:55am


Permalink Reply by CHIEF NORMAN on October 20, 2009 at 9:59am


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