CENTERBURG — The rescue work firefighters can be called upon to do can present a unique set of challenges when that rescue involves a farm. Firefighters on Saturday were given the opportunity to prepare for farm emergencies.
Educator Jeff McCutcheon of the Knox County Ohio State Extension Office explained to the firefighters the mechanical workings of many pieces of equipment, and the special dangers the machines can create.
Covering the basics, from the ways the machines work to how to turn them off if an emergency develops, McCutcheon explained the common machine hazards farm workers face when they work with tractors, combines, plows and balers. He said balers and augers have wrap points where someone’s clothing or limbs can become trapped and wrapped around in a split second.
“A [power take off] operating at 1,000 rpm will pull in clothing at a rate of 8 feet per second,” he told the firefighters.
Later, farmer Harold Cochran used a rug to show how a PTO can “eat” a person’s clothing, trapping and crushing them. Cochran said his PTO turns at 540 rpm. McCutcheon said this can wrap a piece of clothing around itself nine times a second, taking an arm or leg with it.
Cochran told firefighters he knows of at least three of his neighbors who have been severely injured in farming accidents. McCutcheon said accidents happen when the machinery becomes clogged.
“It happens to every farmer about once a season,” he said of a clogged baler. “They jump down and try to unplug it.”
Since many farmers perform work alone, they can be injured or trapped for hours before they are found and help is summoned.
McCutcheon said other hazards farm machinery can pose include pinch points between gears, belts and pulleys, and shear and cutting point on sickle bars and grain augers. There are crushing dangers between two machinery parts or two pieces of equipment, and thrown objects such as stones and chaff also pose hazards.
The dangers farm animals can present to their handlers, as well as to rescuers responding to an emergency, were also discussed. McCutcheon explained the animals found on farms are prey animals with a “flight zone” that varies by species and conditioning, in which animals will feel threatened by people.
“If you’re outside their flight zone, they will usually just turn and look at you,” he said.
He explained that all animals have blind spots, and approaching one from those blind spots can cause them to feel threatened, and lash out. Animals also become more unpredictable during mating and parenting times.
McCutcheon told the firefighters if they must enter a confined area with farm animals, the most important first step is to determine an escape route. He said animals often give clues when they are feeling threatened and will turn, with wide open eyes, and ears turned toward the threat. He said local farmers have been killed by their animals, even goats.
The chemicals on farms, including those produced by animal waste, can also threaten safety. McCutcheon said the ammonia, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and methane produced by agitated manure drops oxygen levels inside enclosed buildings such as hog barns. He told the firefighters they must always use breathing apparatus when entering a hog barn on an emergency.
Lt. Dave Miller of the Central Ohio Joint Fire District, who organized the training and who has worked on farms over the years, taught the firefighters about hazards they could face when fighting a fire or performing a rescue in grain bins and silos. These large-scale emergencies often require the equipment from multiple departments to extinguish a fire or rescue someone who is trapped.
The firefighters traveled to Hendren Farms in Centerburg to examine the feed mill buildings. Hendren employee Matt Douglas opened silo doors so firefighters could measure the levels of gases such as methane given off by the fermentation process of silage.
Firefighters climbed by ladder and elevator to the tops of the silos and bins, some of which can hold 80,000 bushels of feed. Because most of these rescues must be accessed from the top, firefighters examined openings and construction on top of the buildings, determining what kind of tools would be needed to rescue someone trapped inside.
Miller explained that if an auger starts turning in a grain bin while someone is inside working, the individual can become buried up to the chest in 10 seconds, and completely buried in 20 seconds. People can also become buried working inside a bin while walking on the crust that forms on the top of the grain. Even if it appears firm enough to walk on, the crust can collapse, and a person quickly becomes buried.
When the training was completed, many of the firefighters said they felt better prepared because of the knowledge they gained.
“It was really good training, and it’s stuff you don’t get to see all the time,” said Porter-Kingston Firefighter Nick Sabo.
COJFD Firefighter/Paramedic Dan Rott said he found his first-time exposure to much of the farm equipment helpful. COJFD Firefighter Christ Sturtz, who has farming experience, said even those who grew up on farms found the training educational. Ryan Bareswilt, a COJFD firefighter/paramedic, said the number of hazards on farms surprised him.
Miller said he planned the training because many of the firefighters on rural departments have not been exposed to the farming situations they could be called into during a rescue.
