by Meta Machulis

Emergency crews saved a man who was trapped in a grain bin near Herscher on Monday, May 24.

Pilot Township Fire Chief Alan Ramsey said his department received a call at about 8:10 a.m. and hurried to the scene.

“We found the victim was in the grain bin. The bin was approximately half full,” Ramsey said, explaining that the man was buried up to his neck and was using his arm to try to hold the corn away from his body.

Ramsey said the man was having trouble breathing due to the pressure of the grain around him. The Pilot Township Fire Protection District called for mutual aid from Limestone Township, Salina Township, the Reddick Fire Department and Kankakee Township. The Kankakee County Tactical Rescue Team, made up of members from various county departments, was also notified. The Cabery Fire Department was called for standby at the Pilot Township station.

“We’ve done this before, and it takes a lot of handwork,” Ramsey said, noting that he has been involved in three grain bin rescues in his 21 years with the department. “It’s a very laboring and hands-on type of thing to get somebody out of a grain bin,” he said.

Ramsey said emergency personnel went into the bin and put a barrel-like structure around the victim so that the grain immediately surrounding his body could be scooped away. Relief cuts were made in the bin wall.

“We just kept people in there with him and gave him oxygen,” Ramsey said.

An hour and 28 minutes after the initial emergency call was received, the man was freed and removed from the grain bin.

Ramsey said the farmer apparently became trapped while trying to loosen corn that was stuck together due to moisture. Others working there did not know the man was in the bin and began to drain it, pulling the farmer down, to the best of Ramsey’s knowledge.

Ramsey said it is important that people remember, “Do not get in a grain bin when the grain’s flowing until it gets down to the floor.”

Although the Herscher Police Department and Pilot Township Fire Protection District were unable to provide the victim’s name, the Kankakee Daily Journal and Herscher Pilot  newspapers listed the man as Laverne Schultz, 76, of 4589 S. 10000 West Rd., Herscher. Reports indicate that he was taken to Riverside Medical Center, Kankakee.