Officials react to grain bin rescue in Champaign County

ROYAL, Ill. (WCIA) — First responders in Central Illinois helped a man to safety after dealing with a grain bin accident in Royal Tuesday morning.

The Ogden Royal Fire Protection District, Urbana and Homer Fire Departments received a call about a man injured inside a grain bin.

Ogden Royal Fire Chief Randy Thompson said when he got there, he didn’t know what to think.

“There’s so much that can go on,” Thompson said. “And I mean, this is a dangerous place to work.”

CEO of Premier Cooperative Tim Hughes said the employee wanted to get out of the empty grain bin himself but couldn’t because of a hurt ankle.

“It was hard for him to climb out of the bin,” Hughes said. “So, like I said, as an abundance of caution, we just call in emergency services.”

It happened at Railroad Street and School Street. It was the Urbana Technical Rescue Team who saved the day. Officials said it took nearly 30 minutes to save the man.

“They got him packaged up and, you know, was able to get him,” Thompson said.

“The entrance to get in and out was a fairly small-diameter hole,” Hughes commented.

Hughes added that they’re required to have multiple employees inside the grain bin and one observer outside to protect them from hazards.

“The most dangerous situation is an entrapment. Those can be quite severe. But that wasn’t the case in this situation,” Hughes said.

The company was also hit with an OSHA violation in 2013 after someone was killed after being suffocated in a grain bin.

“Anytime you have a big facility like this, I mean, accidents do occur,” Thompson said.

He added that they attempt to train as much as possible for situations like this. He said this was his first time being on a call like this one.

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