Madison County Fire Department receives over $6,000 worth of equipment for grain bin rescue

Farm Bureaus across the nation are recognizing this week as 'Agriculture Safety Awareness Program Week'.

The Madison County branch is giving the local fire department over $6,000 worth of grain bin rescue equipment.

President of the Madison County Farm Bureau, Brad Cochran, says as a farmer grain bins are a better investment right now.

“Our capacity for combines getting bigger and faster, we’re forced to use on storage farm bins and as those combines get bigger, trucks get bigger, lines get longer at the elevators, we’re forced to use bigger grain bins on the farm," says Cochran.

From 2018 to 2019 the number of reported grain bin entrapments across the country grew by 27%.

One foot of grain is equal to about 300 pounds of pressure on top of someone trapped inside the bin.

Madison Country fire chief, Eric Turner, is happy to be prepared.

“It’s new to us in this part of the country or new to me at least, on the grain bin stuff. As we’ve seen more grain bins pop up around the county it’s important for us to be able to prepare for those types of emergencies," he says.

Cochran mentions that it is good to know that if an emergency happens in this area the fire department has the equipment and training to help.

“If we were to have to get in a bin and get trapped in a bin we know that Madison County Fire Department rescue is capable to rescue me or anyone else in the county or surrounding counties," adds Cochran.

Chief Turner says they have not had a grain bin emergency yet, but if they do they will be ready to respond.