MARYLAND - 10 fire departments, including three on Eastern Shore, won life-saving equipment for grain bin rescue operations.
The fire departments were nominated by local Marylanders to win the equipment through Nationwide's Grain Bin Safety advocacy campaign. In addition, two Maryland fire departments will receive retraining on grain bin rescues.
Maryland Farm Bureau (MDFB) played a pivotal role in facilitating this program with a generous donation and a nomination process organized through local county Farm Bureau chapters.
Rescue Tubes will be awarded to the following fire departments on the Eastern Shore of Maryland:
- Easton Volunteer Fire Department (Talbot)
- Linkwood-Salem Volunteer Fire Company (Dorchester)
- Marion Fire Department (Somerset)
The Goodwill Fire Company (Queen Anne's) is one of the departments who won retraining. The training is led by the Director of the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS) Dan Neenan. The hands-on component consists of a state-of-the-art grain entrapment simulator loaded on a 20-foot trailer and able to hold 100 bushels of grain. Attending EMS and fire department personnel practice proper lock out/tag out and extrication procedures for both a fully engulfed and partially engulfed victim.
“Maryland Farm Bureau is committed to the safety of our state’s food producers,” said Parker Welch, Executive Director of MDFB. “We are thrilled to team up with our partners at Nationwide to equip our courageous first responders with the training and resources necessary to prevent these tragedies.”
According to the 2022 Summary of U.S. Agricultural Confined Space-Related Injuries and Fatalities, more than 300 grain entrapments have been recorded in the past decade. In 2021, at least 29 grain entrapments were reported, resulting in 11 fatalities. Every February, MDFB celebrates National Grain Bin Safety Week to bring awareness to the dangers that grain bins can pose when safety measures are not enforced.