Four people were rescued from a grain bin incident along Hwy. 1 in rural Mount Vernon Friday, Feb. 18.
According to Lt. Kent J. Steenblock, assistant patrol commander of Linn County Sheriff’s Office, first responders were called to the scene of a grain bin incident in rural Mount Vernon at 9:32 a.m.
Emergency personnel arrived on scene to find a grain bin had ruptured and four people were actively trapped and buried in corn outside the bin.
All four people were rescued from the corn spill.
Initial investigation determined Jared Youngblut, 37, Lisbon, and Allan Mallie, 62, Mount Vernon were setting up the grain bin to unload corn. When the outer door of the bin was opened, the corn inside the bin began to empty, covering both men. Shaun Lambersen, 49, Martelle, and Matt Hayek, 51, Iowa City, also became trapped in corn as they stopped to help.
Lambertsen and Hayek were rescued first, and then Mallie and Youngblut were rescued as operations continued. Rescue operations were completed at 10:49 a.m.
Mount Vernon assistant fire chief Derek Boren said that there were roughly eight members of the Mount Vernon Fire department, eight from Lisbon fire department, five from Springville Fire Department, five from Martelle Fire department, three from Solon fire department and four from Mechanicsville Fire Department at the scene.
“It was really a chaotic scene for several minutes there,” Boren said.
It’s a scene that the Mount Vernon Fire Department routinely trains for, however.
“We do grain bin rescue trainings once a year,” Boren said. “This situation was slightly different than that training, as we’ve trained to rescue someone who was trapped inside the bin. It was similar practices to what we trained on, we just had to modify them on the scene to safely rescue the four individuals who were trapped in the grain.”
According to Boren, the grain bin was almost completely full, so the decision was made to cut the bin to help relieve pressure away from the entrapped men. Multiple grain rescue tubes along with plywood were used to make a wall to stop the flow of grain on top of the trapped men as rescue efforts were underway. The third man was freed approximately 30 minutes after responders arrived. Work continued for an additional 45 minutes until the last man was removed from the grain.
Boren said the department needed to thank the countless other non-emergency responders who assisted at the scene, including groups like the City of Mount Vernon and City of Lisbon who brought additional skid loaders and supplies to help with moving grain at the scene.
“Friday was a true testament to the hard work and cooperation by area emergency agencies which led to a successful outcome in a challenging, and highly dynamic situation,” Boren said. “Additionally, we are thankful to the local farmers and individuals that provided assistance in the form of skid loaders, tractors and shovels to help move grain.”
During the rescue, multiple agencies and volunteers worked at extricating the men from the corn, using multiple skidloaders and farm equipment to move the corn from the men. Hwy. 1 was closed to one lane and eventually both lanes during the height of the rescue efforts by first responders.
Multiple agencies worked together to remove grain from the bin as well. Those agencies included Linn County Sheriff’s Deputies, Linn County Sheriff’s Rescue, and emergency responders from the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Police Department, the Jones County Sheriff’s Office, the Iowa Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Enforcement, the Lisbon-Mount Vernon and Anamosa Ambulance Services, the Mount Vernon, Lisbon, Martelle, Anamosa, Solon, Mechanicsville, and Springville Fire Departments, and Lifeguard Air Ambulance.
A helicopter from area ambulance services arrived on scene at the grain bin rescue.