Man Rescued from Silo Recovering Well

Town of Oregon, Wisconsin

Wayne Ace noticed a big problem with the materials stored in one of his farm's silos. Silage, a mix of raw chopped materials like field corn, sorghum, grass, or clover, is put into silos to ferment and eventually be used as winter feed for livestock. Wayne noticed that his silage wasn't level, which would have meant wasted space inside the silo and less feed for his animals. Wanye, an experienced farmer, felt he could handle climbing into the 60 foot storage tower to fix the problem. Due to the tower's height and extremely limited access points, Wanye became stuck about halfway up the cylnder. The fumes and fibers from silage can prove toxic when inhaled over an extended period of time. Luckily, Wayne's family noticed what had happened almost immediately and called rescue workers to the scene. The rescue squad safely rappelled down the inside of the silo, and extracted Wanye through an opening no bigger than a foot and a half. He was taken by ambuleance to a local hospital where he has been recovering well. Wayne credits both the EMS and his family for his rescue, pointing out that it might have been much worse had he been stuck for much longer.

"It's my understanding that family members actually discovered the patient. Had they not been as alert and keeping track of what was going on with him, he could have been there for an extended period of time and could have expired," said Capt. Robin Powers of Oregon Fire and EMS.