Crews worked to rescue a man from a grain bin at the Starke County Co-Op in Brems this morning and afternoon (1/14).
The Knox-Center Township Fire Department was dispatched to the business around 10:50 a.m.
Knox Fire Chief Kenny Pfost said once they arrived at the scene, crews discovered a man was trapped in a grain bin and was submerged up to his neck in soybeans.
Pfost said they were initially assisted by the Hamlet and North Judson-Wayne Township Fire Departments as well as the Starke County Sheriff’s Department and Starke County EMS.
Chief Pfost stated that the man was stabilized and given oxygen. Eventually, crews from the MABUS Tech Rescue Team arrived and proceeded to assist with retrieving the man from the bin.
According to Pfost, the vac-truck from the Knox Sanitation Department was utilized to remove beans and crews also used a grain bin rescue tube that was donated several years ago.
The rescue concluded around 2:25 p.m. Once the man was out of the bin, he was transported to the hospital but Pfost said he was in stable condition.
Chief Pfost reported that this is a fairly remarkable situation as most incidents like this are recoveries rather than rescues since these types of circumstances can often times result in a fatality.
