Bloomfield Emergency Services Conduct Grain Drill

The Bloomfield Fire and Rescue and Ambulance Services conducted a grain drill this past weekend as part of its ongoing training exercises.

The scenario for the drill was a to have an individual emptying grain out of a semi trailer to slip and fall into the trailer. The grain then sucked them down and they plugged the hole in the bottom of the grain trailer.

Michael Schainost said "We hope that they have a rope tied to them so that we can find them. That's the biggest problem is locating them."

The next problem is finding out where their body parts are so that they can get the tube around them. The third problem is controlling the grain. Schainost continues to explain that he hopes that the victim is conscious so that they can help dig themself out.

For this drill, the crew actually had someone in the trailer and then opened the hopper and let it suck them down to about waist deep. "We didn't want to go any further than waist deep due to the enormous pressure the grain poses," said Schainost. It took about fifteen minutes to free just one person.

The equipment used in the drill was done with the COOP and a grant that provided the team with the extrication tube and some other tools, buckets, gloves and hearing protection.

Bloomfield/Lindy Rescue Squad Vice President Michaela Jessen said "the role of ambulance in the drill was to provide patient care insight." It is also important that the fire and ambulance work together in real emergencies so they want to train together to build cohesiveness and efficiency between entities.

​The fire fighters recently took part in training in Sioux City, IA. The individuals took classes in Confined Space Operation, Essentials of Firefighting, Industrial Extrication, Interior Fire Attack, First Five Minutes, Trench Rescue, Active Shooter and Drone Operations.