Willards VFC Awarded Grain Bin Rescue Tube
On Monday, local first responders with the Willards Volunteer Fire Department were awarded a grain rescue tube and specialized training from Nationwide and MidAtlantic Farm Credit through Nationwide’s Grain Bin Safety advocacy campaign, which was started in 2014. These resources will be used to help protect against grain entrapments, which result in dozens of deaths across rural America each year including 20 deaths in 2020.
According to researchers at Purdue University, more than 900 cases of grain engulfment have been reported with a fatality rate of 62% in the past 50 years. In 2010, at least 26 U.S. workers were killed in grain engulfment accidents − the highest number on record.
Willards Volunteer Fire Department is one of 48 fire departments to receive these resources through the 2021 campaign, and one of 200 fire departments to benefit from the program since its inception. Three other Maryland fire companies have benefited from the program – two in western Maryland and Goodwill Fire Company in Centreville.
Several grain bin rescue tubes have also been awarded in Delaware – to the Bridgeville, Harrington, Carlisle, Odessa and Camden-Wyoming Fire Companies.
