First responders in Clay City have a new tool at their disposal they hope will make area farms a little more safe.
Using a $2,000 grant from the Duke Energy Foundation, the Clay City Harrison Township Volunteer Fire Department bought a grain bin rescue auger that will facilitate faster, easier retrieval of people should they fall into a grain bin. The auger attaches to a rescue tube that drops down around a stuck person and pulls grain off and away from the person, often allowing them to again take full breaths.
Before buying the auger, Clay City Fire Chief Jim Rupp said they had only a five-gallon Shop-Vac to do the same work. And beside the vacuum’s capacity limitation, it also needs an external power supply to run — and that’s not always readily available.
The auger, by contrast, is operated by a cordless drill, for which the department has several batteries.