Last February, a Nova Scotia man was rescued after becoming trapped in a grain bin, quickly becoming buried up to his chin. He managed to call for help before he was buried to his waist, and the quick thinking of his friends, and specialized training received by first responders, saved his life.
The training had been funded by the Farm Credit Canada (FCC) Safety Fund offered by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA), and the success of that training, as well as the inexoriably rising tide of grain engulfment and grain entrapment deaths on farms around Canada, inspired CASA to look at creating grain entrapment demonstration units and training programs to offer throughout Canada's bread basket provinces.
Partnerships with the Manitoba Canola Growers Association (MCGA), Alberta Canola Producers Commission (ACPC) and SaskCanola to the tune of $90,000 will help CASA reach it's three-year goal of $600,000. That money covers the estimated cost of three grain entrapment training units, the vehicles on which to move the units, the development of training programs and the cost of providing the training programs and demonstrations for free at agricultural events.
Marcel Hacault, executive director of CASA, said that CASA would hope to recoup some of the costs for training fees charged to first responders and larger commercial farm operations who hire the units to come in and do training.
Hacault said that while grain entrapment is not the leading cause of death on grain farms, numbers have been slowly and consistently creeping upwards and now factors in the top 10. The deaths of Catie Bott, 13, and her twin sisters Jana and Dara, 11, earlier this year near Withrow Alta. just highlight the dangers of grain, Hacault said. He was quick to note that the dangers exist not only for children, but for adults as well.
The contributing factor to the increase in grain entrapment deaths is the increasing size of farming operations. Grain bins are bigger and machinery is moving much larger quantities of grain. There's always been dangers in the presence of shifting or moving grain, Hacault said, but those dangers are increasing.
There are many ways people can become entraped or engulfed in grain, which when not moving is much less risky to work around.
"It's a lot like quicksand," he said. What can start as a foot stuck in moving grain can quickly become deadly as that ankle-high heap of grain grows to the knees and then the waist and upwards. Grain can also become stuck on the inside walls of grain bins and farmers need to be careful when knocking it free, since the size of bins has increased.
"What was once a bucket of grain raining down is now a ton," Hacault said.
Complete submersion isn't required to suffocate in a grain entrapment situation, he added. Some grains are "more forgiving," but some grains are so fine that they will fill every open space. When the entrapped person breaths, the decrease in space caused by the chest's rise-and-fall action slowly crushes them as the grain fills the gap of space caused by the expelled breath.
Mark Dennis, fire chief for Stettler and District Fire and Rescue, said grain entrapment is on his radar. Every year, he or deputy fire chief Etienne Brugman travel to Indianapolis, Ind., for the Fire Department Instructor Conference (FDIC).
Last time he was there, Dennis was unable to take part in the grain entrapment training as the priorities set by the department had him enrolling in other training, but the deputy chief from Camrose took it.
"Grain bin rescue isn't new," Dennis said. "There's definitely been a push in that direction."
Dennis said that the Stettler department has never been called to a grain entrapment call, though his crew has responded to a fair share of farm incidents over the past years.
When told about CASC's intended program, Dennis said it's something he'd definitely be interested in, cost dependent.
With ACPC, MCGA and SaskCanola on board, Hacault said he's hopeful other grain associations and farmers groups will come on board with the project, though individual donations and business donations are welcome for any of CASA's programs too.
For more information, visit www.casa-acsa.ca.