The Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation made farming in our parish quite a bit safer with the donation of a Grain Bin Rescue Tube and Rescue Auger to the Natchitoches Fire Department, Wednesday, March 4 at the Parish Fairgrounds. Grain Bin Entrapment is an extremely dangerous situation in which a person working in a grain bin falls in. Moving grain will cause the person to rapidly sink. The grain is heavy and exerts pressure on the body. A person in grain over their knees will not be able to be lifted out. As the grain rises, so does the pressure.
Rescuing a person in that situation requires special equipment and above all, the knowledge of how to properly rescue the victim and not cause further harm. Farm Bureau Senior Safety Instructor Benton Moseley of the Mississippi Farm Bureau presented a class on grain bin entrapment rescue. After the class, members of the Natchitoches Fire Department and Louisiana Search and Rescue got to practice on a simulator trucked in from Mississippi. The simulator has a cut down grain bin filled with corn. Louisiana Farm Bureau Assistant Manager Kyndal Harrell served as the victim. Natchitoches firefighters built the Grain Bin Rescue Tube around her from its interlocking parts and completed the rescue by using the auger to lower the level of corn around her and extracting her from the bin.
This generous donation will provide an extra margin of safety for area farmers and exemplifies the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation’s mission of supporting agriculture.
