Unless you live on a farm, there’s agricultural equipment you may never come in contact with.
But, for emergency responders in rural areas, knowing how to handle that machinery in an emergency situation is a must.
There’s a lot that can go wrong on a farm.
"Entrapment in grain bins, a high rescue, entrapment in moving and crushing equipment, heavy equipment, the manure slurries," says Keith Butler, of La Crosse County Emergency Management.
Thanks to farmers following proper safety precautions, serious farm accidents are few and far between.
But, when they do occur, the situation can be much more complicated than a car accident or house fire.
"We have the movement of animals, large animals, dangerous animals in many cases," says Butler.
If not trained properly a responder can quickly become a victim.
Most of the time emergency responders are taught to deal with these situations in a classroom setting but Saturday the training was more realistic.
"To be able to bring the responders out to an actual working farm and touch and move and deal with the actual equipment takes it up to a much higher notch," says Butler.
Emergency workers trained in farm rescue and UW-Extension officers taught at the different stations.
But, it wasn’t only emergency responders that learned something.
Farmer Greg Jenniges says after watching the training sessions he’s much more likely to call for help.
"I would hesitate to begin with, but seeing some of this stuff I guess I realize that it is a good idea to err on the cautious side," says Jenniges.
He also says it’s good to know the help is ready if something does go wrong.
Matt Klabacka
NAHETS Blog 