Putting cows on the front page since 1885.
The amount of nominations the Williamsburg Volunteer Fire Company received for its grant for grain bin rescue equipment “caught a lot of people’s attention,” according to Captain Jon Isenberg.
Isenberg said that for many years, the fire company has participated in the Nominate Your Fire Department Contest as part of Nationwide’s Grain Bin Safety advocacy campaign and has been denied. Led by Isenberg, the fire company dove head first into this grant process. The fire company went door to door to the farmers of Williamsburg and asked for nominations.
The Williamsburg community came back in large numbers of nominations.
Nationwide awards grants to roughly 50-60 applicants. Williamsburg was lucky enough to be one of them.
Isenberg estimated that this equipment – with panels and an auger – is well over $3,200. The grant money also paid for a trainer to come up and teach the fire company, along with Geeseytown, about the equipment.
Isenberg said the reason for the grain bin equipment is that there has been an increase in grain bins in the community to store items such as corn and soybean. A rescue needs to happen when a person becomes sucked down in the bin. Isenberg said that if someone is past their knees in the grain, they cannot get out by themselves. He added that it takes roughly 15-30 seconds to get sucked in.
For a rescue, the fire company would use what is called the “Great Wall of Rescue,” which would be attaching aluminum panels around the victim in a circle. They would then put the auger down and use a drill to pump corn/grain out from under the victim.
Besides the training, the fire company put on a demonstration during the Williamsburg Community Farm Show to teach residents about the rescue equipment.
Isenberg thanked both Mill Hill for donating the grain and Randy Brubaker for the panels on a grain bin used in the demonstration.
This development is part of the technical rope and water rescue sector of the fire company, who partners with Geeseytown on trainings for “more manpower,” according to Isenberg. If a grain rescue happened, both fire companies would be called. The fire company is also part of the eight-county South Central Mountain Regional Task Force who trains on both technical rope rescue assist and water assist.
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