News : Vinton FD now has new tool to help with grain bin rescues

Jason Laton (in the Res-Q-Tube) and other Vinton firefighers pose with Okee Walker of CR Conveying.

The harvest season is a good time to remind agriculture workers of the dangers of working in grain bins, and becoming trapped in thousands of bushels of corn. It's also a time for fire departments to be called to such accidents; at least two happened in Iowa in September.

Thanks to a donation by the C.R. Conveying company, the Vinton Fire Department now has a new tool to help in such emergencies.

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, C.R. Conveying held a drawing for a new Res-Q-Tube made by the GSI group. The bright red tube is more five feet tall and three feet wide, and is made up of four connecting parts. Rescuers can place the tube around a victim in a grain bin to keep him from falling further into the grain as the corn is removed from the bin.

Okee Walker, a long time C.R. Conveying employee, informed the VFD of its selection as the winner. Firefighter Jason Laton actually entered the Vinton department in the drawing. Walker joined the fire department members for a photo with the new device Thursday evening.

The VFD will be training on the unit in the near future.