Fire departments, ambulance crews pull off rare grain bin rescue

SUCCESS — Members of area fire departments and ambulance crews freed a trapped Chris Johnson of Owatonna from a grain bin northwest of Geneva Wednesday, May 20. According to at least one source, the chances of a successful grain bin rescue are one in 18. Johnson was reportedly stuck for more than two hours. (Photo by Brant Hemingway)

By KATHY PAULSEN

Staff Writer

The Geneva Fire Department received a call of assistance to the Chad Johnson farm northeast of Geneva at 9:47 a.m. Wednesday, May 20. A crusted layer that had developed on the top of the corn in a 50,000-bushel grain bin being emptied plugged the auger. Chad's uncle, Chris Johnson of Owatonna, had been helping load the corn into a semi at the farm, and decided he would have to go into the grain bin to free the auger.

Once Chris was able to get the 10-inch auger free again, the corn in the bin dropped extremely fast and started taking everything in the bin with it, including Chris. Originally they had thought there was about 8-9 feet of corn in the bin, but they soon discovered that there was more.

Safety measures had been considered before Chris entered the grain bin and he was able to grab a rope rescue system that had been installed in the bin. Chris was able to hold on to it until rescue workers were able to get him out of the bin.

When Chris started sinking in the corn, his arms pressed along the side of his head. It wasn't long before his body started experiencing the pressure of the weight of the corn. He started having problems getting air as his heart wasn't able to pump like it normally would.

Chad Johnson and Tony Seykora, at the farm at the time, were able to get several pieces of plywood into the bin and used them to help prevent Chris from sinking further into the corn. They then started shoveling corn away from Chris, but quickly discovered they needed help and asked Jerry Hemingway, who was also at the farm, to call for help.

Alex Beenken of the Geneva Fire Department, who works at Geneva Lumber, was in town, and was first to arrive on the scene. Due to the time that Chris had been buried in the corn, he started to experience problems breathing and his legs started to hurt him a great deal. Alex was able to get a tank of oxygen out of the fire truck and he, along with Bud Olson and Josh Moen, from the Ellendale Fire Department, were able to help Alex get the oxygen to Chris.

The New Richland Fire Department has developed a "bin rescue trailer." The Clarks Grove and Blooming Prairie Departments also have several rescue items, so a plea for help was made. The Booming Prairie department has a cordless auger, which the firemen were able to use to help pull corn out of the rescue tube once they had it in place around Chris.

The firemen were also able to use the "rescue tube" that the Clarks Grove fire had on their truck. The rescue tube consists of four metal pieces that fit together. 

Chad Johnson and Tony were able to get the rescue tube in place, which helped prevent the corn from putting more pressure on Chris' body.

Members of the Hollandale, Manchester, and Albert Lea City Fire Departments, the Ellendale Ambulance, and Freeborn County Sheriff’s Department also had people helping in the rescue.

Greg Bartsch, who had served a great number of years as fire chief in Geneva, had to take command of the rescue operation as the current chief, Curt Boswell, was not able to be there. Greg said he was very glad he had not yet left Ellendale that morning so he could quickly respond to the emergency call.

Greg called Mayo One for assistance once he was able to assess the situation. Due to the large number of vehicles that had arrived on the scene, Shannon Wobschall, from the Geneva Fire Department, started moving some of the vehicles so that there would be an adequate area for the helicopter to land.

Firemen had to cut several holes around the base of the grain bin so that they could get the corn out of the bin as quickly as possible. The firemen used a large "K saw that Broskoff Structures had donated to the fire department. After the rescue workers were able to get enough corn out, they removed a large section of the bin so they could get Chris out on a back board.

Chris, 65, was airlifted to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester and spent the night in the hospital. He was released the next day after a battery of tests.

Chad said his uncle is an "old Vietnam guy," which he felt helped him deal with the difficult situation.

Dobberstein Brothers and Watonwan Farm Service brought their large vacuum units to the farm. The firemen were able to get masks from SunOpta. Broskoff Structures also brought out one of their large cranes to the Johnson farm, which could have been used to help lift Chris out of the corn bin if it had been needed.

Several of the local firemen in the area had attended a training session in Hayfield earlier this year. A number of fireman had also helped with a similar situation a year ago, which was also a benefit in this operation. Typically, one in 18 grain bin rescues are successful.

Greg said that when things like this occur it is very helpful to be able to use the radio systems and he appreciated the help that the dispatch center in Albert Lea provided. Greg said the whole operation worked like "clock work," like it was something that they do every day, but he quickly said, "I don't want to do it every day."

The former chief said that in the past if they had 12 fire calls a year it was a lot. Now they may respond to 50 or more calls a year.

Greg said he called Jack Volz, who had helped the local department with training sessions, and said, "Guess what we did today?" Greg was proud to inform Jack that a great group of local firemen had successfully put what they had learned during the training session in Hayfield into action. Travis Broskoff also talked with Jack and Brian Staska and expressed his appreciation.

Chad Johnson said he has a new respect for all the things firemen do, stating, "I don't know what we would have done without them."

He said that it was unbelievable to see so many people working together as well as they did, especially considering that they were about 40 or more people from many different fire departments at the scene.