Missouri Agriculture's Grain Regulatory Services managers and supervisors attended the 2019 Agricultural Regulatory Officials conference in Savannah, Georgia.
At a presentation on farm safety by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, grain auditor Brian Steward won a Turtle Tube – Grain Rescue Sleeve™ to be passed along to a rural fire department in Missouri.
The Turtle Tube is designed and built by farmers and firefighters working together to save lives.
The Department was honored to present the Montrose Fire Department with this life-saving addition to their toolkit. In early 2019, the Montrose community experienced a grain entrapment/engulfment accident.
Fire Chief Dale Baily responded to the call and assisted firefighters in rescuing the young man from the grain bin.
However, Baily quickly realized the fire department did not have the equipment or the necessary training for this kind of rescue situation.
Since that day, Baily has sat down with his department to go over what went right and what went wrong.
He has continued to research new types of rescue operations, and has searched for training opportunities and new equipment needed for these rescues.
The fire department even took part in a grain engulfment/entrapment training hosted by the University of Missouri Fire Training Rescue Institute.
It is our hope that with the addition of the Turtle Tube, the Montrose Fire Department will be better equipped to handle grain engulfment/entrapment rescue situations not just in their community, but in surrounding communities as well.
The Department is proud to be a member of the Show-Me Farm Safety committee.