Man rescued from Tyrrell grain bin incident

Published 5:10 pm Wednesday, February 16, 2022

By Mary Helen Goodloe-Murphy

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Photo by Detective M. Spence, Tyrrell County Sheriff’s Office

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Tyrrell County Volunteer Fire Department and Tyrrell-Washington Emergency Medical Services were called out to a grain bin rescue at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. Tyrrell County Sheriff’s Office deputies also responded to the scene.

A man was trapped up to his waist in grain in a bin on Soundside Road in Tyrrell County. He was reportedly loading a truck for transporting grain and a machine got stuck. He climbed in to unclog the machine.

Eight Tyrrell County volunteer firefighters responded to that call. Another seven or eight volunteers came from neighboring Creswell Volunteer Fire Department. Volunteers from Plymouth were also coming.

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“It takes so much manpower,” explained Tyrrell County Fire Chief Johnny Spencer. “It’s very labor intensive.”

These volunteer firefighters are trained for grain bin rescue. In fact, the Tyrrell County assistant chief will be finishing up a training class on grain bin rescue on Saturday in Hyde County.

The Tyrrell County Volunteer Fire Department is equipped. The department has a trailer with equipment just for such work. It’s stationed in Tyrrell so it can respond to incidents in northeastern North Carolina. Lake Phelps Grain helped with the equipment expense.

For this rescue, the firefighters used one tube, which was lowered around the person up to his waist in grain. With the tube in place, grain around the person can be removed and the person lifted out.

And that’s what happened on this day in Tyrrell County.

The person rescued was taken to Chowan Hospital because the grain caused compression around the man’s lower body. He was released and heading home around 3 p.m.

Said Spencer, if the grain is up to the knees, “you can’t get yourself out.”

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