Westfield, IL-(Effingham Radio)- The GROWMARK Foundation donated a grain rescue tube to the Westfield Fire Protection District. The tube was delivered on Thursday, October 6, to the Westfield, Illinois, fire department at 105 W. State Street, and a training session on effectively using the tube with the National Educational Center for Agricultural Safety was held at 6:00 p.m. In addition to the Westfield Fire Department, neighboring departments were invited to the training as multiple departments share equipment such as the grain rescue tube.
Grain bin entrapments leading to injuries and fatalities among farmers and farm workers have been on the rise since 2023, and with more grain stored on farms in 2025 due to price volatility, more entrapments are likely to occur. Each injury and fatality is a tragic event for the families involved, the farms they manage, and the communities in which they live and work. The grain rescue tube has proven effective in rescuing individuals from entrapment, but not every fire department has one.
Dan Neenan, the Director of the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety and a paramedic, emphasizes the critical role that lifesaving equipment, such as grain rescue tubes, plays for fire departments. He states that having this equipment can mean the difference between a trip to the hospital and a call to the coroner. “The importance of providing rescue tubes to volunteer fire departments lies in equipping them with the tools necessary to rescue individuals trapped in grain bins. In these situations, every moment counts, and using the rescue tube to relieve the pressure on the victim’s body can be lifesaving.”
Neenan says the tubes buy valuable minutes for victims trapped in grain and the firefighters working to rescue them. “The rescue tube is used as a cofferdam that is built around the entrapped victim to isolate them from the grain outside in the bin, giving them some space to breathe a little better as it helps ease the pressure of the grain pressing against a victim’s chest,” he said. “A rescue auger is then used to remove grain from inside the rescue tube until the victim is able to move under their own power.”
Westfield Fire Protection District Chief Dane Tally says it’s one more tool to help save lives. “It’s an added tool in our toolbox. When we have a person trapped in a bin, every second counts when we’re trying to get them out and save that individual’s life, and that is always our goal when we go into these challenging situations,” he said.
Kevin Frye, GROWMARK’s Safety & Environmental Services Consultant, says educating farmers about grain bin safety is critical. “We appreciate everything the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety does to teach farmers and farm workers about grain bin safety,” he said. “The first priority is to educate farmers and those who work in grain operations to avoid putting themselves in dangerous situations. If a catastrophic event occurs, we are honored to support emergency responders with the equipment and training necessary to safely conduct rescues and protect lives.”
GROWMARK, Inc. is an agricultural cooperative serving nearly 400,000 farmers and customers across the United States and Canada. Headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois, GROWMARK provides agronomy services such as seed, crop protection, and crop nutrients products, energy products, facility engineering and construction, logistics, grain marketing, and agricultural risk management solutions across North America. The company owns the FS trademark, which is used by its member-owned cooperatives throughout the Midwest and beyond. Learn more at www.GROWMARK.com.
GROWMARK, Inc. is an agricultural cooperative serving nearly 400,000 farmers and customers across the United States and Canada. Headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois, GROWMARK provides agronomy services such as seed, crop protection, and crop nutrients products, energy products, facility engineering and construction, logistics, grain marketing, and agricultural risk management solutions across North America. The company owns the FS trademark, which is used by its member-owned cooperatives throughout the Midwest and beyond. Learn more at GROWMARK.com.
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