Farming is meaningful and fulfilling work, but also dangerous. In 2019 alone, rural fire and rescue departments across Minnesota received nine calls to grain-bin and silo entrapments. They resulted in 11 deaths, shattering the lives of loved ones and the surrounding communities.
But one entrapment that occurred on a farm near the small town of Gibbon, Minnesota, had a happy ending. It’s a story of rescue, bravery, quick thinking and teamwork. And it’s a story that hits close to home for one Beck employee.
Nate Firle, Beck’s western-regional agronomy manager, is a busy guy. In addition to managing a team of agronomists and silage experts, he also supports Beck’s Practical Farm Research® efforts in Minnesota. And he’s the owner and founder of Ag Revival, an agronomic-research company. He’s a husband, friend, dedicated member of his community and, in his free time, a dedicated volunteer firefighter and first responder for Gibbon Fire and Rescue.
Gibbon Fire and Rescue received a 911 call Oct. 8, 2019, alerting of a grain-bin entrapment in the area. It didn’t take long for Firle and fellow responding officers to realize it was local-farmer and friend Jerry Schwarzrock. After he'd spent multiple hours in the grain bin, Schwarzrock’s sons found him trapped up to his neck in corn – with no way to pull him out. What unfolded next was every farm family’s worst nightmare.
The Gibbon Fire and Rescue team went to work immediately, securing grain-rescue tubes and initiating patient care to keep Schwarzrock conscious and responsive. But they quickly realized they were facing two major challenges. The first was the grain placement because most of it was on the opposite side of the bin. That was creating a continuous flow onto Schwarzrock and the rescue team. The second issue was the realization that his foot was stuck in the auger. They needed to move a lot of grain and fast if they had any hopes of rescuing him from the bin.
En route to the scene, the assistant chief had noticed a neighboring farmer had his grain vacuum out of the barn, so he called for help. That farmer and his crew immediately grabbed a tractor and their vac, and went to help. The vac was instrumental in the rescue. With help from God, first responders and the community, Schwarzrock’s life was saved.
In light of that harrowing experience and the large percentage of entrapment fatalities, Gibbon Fire and Rescue realized they needed a grain vac of their own – and a means of transporting it quickly to emergency scenes. A committee was formed and ideas were tossed around – everything from securing their own grain vac to looking into self-powered vacs. But those options had limitations due to cost, equipment size and limited firehouse-storage capacity. They needed something smaller and more-manageable for the rescue team that could be easily stored and hauled.
And from that the “R3 Trailer” was born – R3 for “Rural Rescue Response.” Sketches were made, vendors and builders were contacted, and fundraisers were started. The R3 Trailer was a concept, and Gibbon Fire and Rescue could not receive grants for a conceptual idea or proof of concept. Instead the team began contacting local agricultural and community businesses to secure funds to move forward with the build.
The final R3 Trailer houses a mounted skid-vac system with 4-inch tubing from Handle Air for grain entrapments. It has the storage capacity to hold all the necessary tools to help with rural rescues – for everything from equipment entrapments to tractor rollovers.
The team in Gibbon is clear about one thing. They don’t want the R3 to be one of a kind; they want it to be the first of its kind. It’s important that fire and rescue teams are equipped with the right tools and resources when called to the scene.
Farmers understand grain-bin safety and the dangers of going in, but the reality is sometimes they don’t have a choice. Operators climb into bins all the time, understanding the dangers. They know when they step in there’s a chance they might not come out. It’s imperative that farmers understand life-saving safety measures to implement on their farms.
Beck’s was moved by the Gibson story of survival and felt called to help share rural-rescue stories. We want to bring awareness to life-saving tools and tactics fire departments can implement to help change the outcome of those calls. Visit beckshybrids.com/becks-day-ever to learn more about the Gibson story and how Beck’s is working to help communities across rural America through the “Beck’s Day Ever” program.
